Acas Early Conciliation of employment tribunal claims

In May 2014 a new pre-claim conciliation scheme run by Acas became compulsory for all employment tribunal claims. From 6 May 2014, the first step in any tribunal claim is to contact Acas to consider conciliation (i.e. negotiated settlement) of your claim. You must complete a form available from the Acas website and send it to Acas who will contact you and your employer to find out whether the claim can be settled without issuing a tribunal claim. The process is free of charge. You must send the form to Acas within three months of the date your unpaid sick pay was due. Otherwise your claim will be out of time and the tribunal is very unlikely to consider it.

Assuming your employer is not willing to pay your claim following Acas conciliation, Acas will issue an Early Conciliation Certificate to show that conciliation has not been possible in your case. Without this Certificate you will not be allowed to bring your tribunal claim. You can find out more about Acas early conciliation on the Acas website at www.acas.org.uk/earlyconciliation.

There is also a Helpline number to call: 0300 123 1100.