Early Conciliation will help resolve the majority of workplace disputes which may lead to an employment tribunal, including:
unfair dismissal claims workplace discrimination redundancy payments or disputes around selection procedures deductions from wages or unpaid notice/holiday pay rights to time off or flexible working equal pay.
How will Early Conciliation work?
Once Acas receives a request for Early Conciliation they will phone the person making the claim within one working day. In that phone call they will clarify any details on the application form, gather basic information on the dispute itself and give them a fuller understanding of EC. Once this has been done the case will be passed on to a Conciliator who will aim to make contact with both parties within one working day of receiving the case.
Further information on Early Conciliation is available on the Acas website .
If you need help before April 2014
Before Early Conciliation launches in 2014 Acas can still help you resolve employment disputes before you make an employment tribunal claim. This free service is called Pre Claim Conciliation (PCC) . In 2012 they successfully helped over 13,000 employees and employers resolve their disputes through PCC.
Find out whether PCC can help by calling the Acas Helpline on 08457 47 47 47.
Employment Tribunal Statistics
18 March 2014
Since the government introduced employment tribunal fees in July 2013, there has been a significant fall in cases.
The Ministry of Justice published its quarterly tribunal statistics report which presents the latest statistics on type and volume of Tribunal cases that are received, disposed of or outstanding in October to December 2013. Responding to the 79 per cent fall in employment tribunal cases – from 45,710 between September and December 2012 to 9,801 cases for the same period last year – since the government introduced a fee for most workers to take cases, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “These figures show that introducing fees for tribunal cases has stopped many people seeking justice. No one will believe that Britain’s workplaces have got fairer overnight. Too many of Britain’s bad bosses are getting away with treating staff badly, confident that the government is on their side. “The big drop in sex discrimination and pregnancy dismissal claims show that it is likely that women are the main losers. But fees are deterring both women and men from taking cases for unpaid wages where the fees are greater than the sums held back by their bosses. Only the very poorest get relief from fees – TUC research shows that more than one in three households containing at least one worker on the minimum wage has to pay £390 to bring an unpaid wage claim.
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 91 of 519
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