What is ACAS early conciliation?

Early conciliation is a process that has the aim of resolving workplace disputes and avoiding the need to go to an employment tribunal. Since 2014, it has been a mandatory requirement to enter the ACAS early conciliation process prior to filing a claim. Typical workplace disputes might be redundancy or unfair dismissal.

Employees are required to complete a form for ACAS, informing them of their intent to make a claim. ACAS’ role is to remediate, and they will try and help your employee reach an agreement with you (the employer) before it goes further. This process is known as early conciliation and it precedes the tribunal claim stage.

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What does early conciliation involve?

Both you and your employee need to inform ACAS what you want to achieve from the process. For instance, your employee might want you to change your behaviour towards them, or they might want a financial settlement in return for not taking it to a tribunal.

If you’re able to reach a mutually satisfactory outcome, this will be formalised in a COT3 legal agreement.

However, if, at the end of the process, you’re unable to reach an agreeable outcome with your employee, they may decide to pursue an Employment Tribunal claim.

For obvious reasons, it is in the interest of all parties not to go through a lengthy and costly tribunal.

If you find yourself in the ACAS early conciliation stage and need some professional advice, call us today.

 

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