Acas Early Conciliation

The first step in all employment tribunal claims is to contact Acas for Early Conciliation (EC) of the claim. The only situation not covered by Acas EC is a claim for interim relief. Reps should be aware that the time limit for a claim for interim relief is very short — just seven days (see Chapter 5: Victimisation, page 127). All Acas conciliation is free.

Acas EC is initiated by the member, who completes an Early Conciliation Notification Form. The Form is accessed from the Acas website. Completing and submitting the Form is a compulsory first step to any claim but both parties have a choice whether to actively participate in the early conciliation process. The aim of Acas EC is to try to achieve a settlement of the claim without the need for tribunal proceedings.

All claims must be submitted for Acas EC. There are no exceptions:

Help in completing the Form is available from the Acas Helpline tel: 0300 123 1100. It can be submitted online or by post. The Form must be submitted by the member. The member can opt to include the contact details of a representative — their union rep or solicitor — on the Form if they have one. Where a member includes these details, Acas will contact the rep directly, rather than the member.

Members should take care when completing the Form, especially to make sure the employer is correctly identified. If a tribunal claim is later made and the name on the ET1 Form (see page 414) is different from the name on the Early Conciliation Notification Form, the claim could be rejected.

The Early Conciliation Notification Form must be submitted to Acas within the normal time limit for bringing a tribunal claim (usually three months). Otherwise the tribunal will not be allowed to hear it. The tribunal has a discretion to extend time to launch the claim, but in general time extensions are rarely granted.

The Form asks for basic details, including contact details for the parties. It does not ask for information about the dispute itself. Where there is more than one respondent (for example, a discrimination claim against an employer and a co-worker) a separate Form must be submitted for each respondent. Each Form must be completed and submitted inside the three-month time limit. It is sensible to submit them all on the same day if possible.

Acas promises to make first (telephone) contact with a prospective claimant within one working day. The claim is allocated to a named conciliator, to try to resolve the dispute through telephone calls to each side.

There is good practical advice for members about Acas EC available on the Struck Out website from trade union barrister Dave Renton of Garden Court Chambers (www.struckout.co.uk). In particular, Renton reminds members that Acas’s role is as an impartial conciliator. It is not its job to check that any settlement sum reflects the true value of the claim. In case of doubt, members should check with their solicitor or rep before agreeing to the settlement. Acas settlements once done cannot be undone.

Acas has four weeks in which to try to achieve a settlement through EC. The conciliator can extend this period for a further two weeks if there is reasonable prospect of a settlement and both parties agree. If a final settlement is reached, Acas records it as a COT3 Settlement Agreement (see page 425).

At the end of the early conciliation period, if no settlement has been reached Acas will issue an Early Conciliation Certificate. Without this certificate, which has a reference number, no tribunal claim can be issued.

www.acas.org.uk/earlyconciliation