Acas helpline heads off tribunal claims

The number of employees and businesses trying to avoid employment tribunal claims continued to rise in recent months, the employment relations service Acas has revealed.

Monthly calls to the Acas helpline which have resulted in being referred to the early conciliation service — pre-claim conciliation (PCC) has almost doubled since September 2009. The free service aims to settle workplace issues which could escalate to an expensive tribunal.

By the end of February, 8,304 PCC referrals had been made from the Acas helpline since the service was launched to accompany changes to the Employment Act in April last year. Acas estimates that over 5,000 tribunal claims have been avoided already.

At the moment around 300 referrals are being received every week on average, and Acas expects this number to rise to about 400 during 2010.

Acas chair Ed Sweeney said: “The earlier issues can be sorted out, the more likely people will remain in productive employment in the workplace.

“We have a responsibility to support the economic recovery by resolving workplace disputes early on and in doing so, avoiding costly, stressful and time consuming employment tribunals.”

The PCC service was launched in April 2009 alongside the new Acas Code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures following the government’s dispute resolution review that started two years earlier.

www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2881