Mandatory ACAS early conciliation

ACAS has the power to help parties conciliate tribunal claims using conciliation officers who act as go-betweens in an attempt to settle proceedings before the hearing.

In April 2009 ACAS pre-claim conciliation became available, whereby ACAS could try to settle a dispute before a claim form was issued to the tribunal.  From April 2014 this will become a duty.  The parties will be required to contact ACAS to attempt early conciliation before issuing a tribunal claim. 

The claimant must contact ACAS.  The conciliation officer will request the necessary information from the claimant and attempt to promote a settlement within the prescribed period.  If that proves impossible or the time period expires, the ACAS officer must issue a certificate to that effect.  This certificate will allow the claimant to pursue the claim at tribunal.

Claimants have three months – minus one day – to make their claim in the tribunal but should note that the early conciliation request to ACAS does not stop the “limitation clock”, although there are instances where the three month period is extended.  For example, if an employee is dismissed on 1 February the normal limitation would expire on 30 April.  If the early conciliation certificate was issued on 19 April the clock will resume on 20 April, giving a further month until 19 May.  Employees must take care to calculate the extension of the limitation period correctly or else their claim may be out of time. 

For more information please contact Reggie Lloyd on 01206 217347 or  [email protected]