Hello my name is Nick Morgan. I’m a policy advisor in Labour Market Directorate at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Over the past year I have been working with Acas to implement the Early Conciliation policy. I want to use the opportunity of our new Employment Law Blog to explain a bit more about how Early Conciliation will work in practice.
Early Conciliation makes it a requirement for most people considering taking their employer to a Tribunal to first of all contact Acas. If both parties agree, Acas will attempt to resolve the dispute for free.
This new policy is designed to help both employees and employers settle disputes amicably, avoiding the potential stresses and costs of an employment tribunal. A successful conciliation will see both parties finding an agreeable solution, which could be continued employment with an apology or an agreed reference. Importantly any agreement that results from an Early Conciliation will be legally binding and will be recorded by Acas in what is known as a COT3 settlement document.
I have worked with Acas to ensure that the Early Conciliation process is as simple as possible. There is a form on the Acas website that the person with the claim fills out. An Acas Early Conciliation telephone helpline (0300 123 11 22) is also available for further advice. It’s important to make clear that Early Conciliation is voluntary at all stages, a claimant has the right to go to tribunal provided the Early Conciliation requirement has been met. Also anything that happens during Early Conciliation will be confidential and have no effect on any subsequent Employment Tribunal claim.
From 6 April 2014 Early Conciliation will be optional for employees to choose. It will become a mandatory process for all Employment Tribunals claims presented after 6 May 2014. We have done this to give all potential users of Early Conciliation as much time as possible to familiarise themselves with the new process.
Acas has written a lot of excellent guidance designed for both employers and employees. I suggest anyone wishing to find out more about what happens during the process should start with this or alternatively use the helpline number quoted above.
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