Most disgruntled workers want to resolve their disputes out of court

Nick Elvin

The vast majority of UK employees are keen to settle their workplace disputes through early conciliation rather than through the courts, according to statistics published by Acas.

The figures have been released following the introduction of new laws designed to reduce the number of Employment Tribunals. In the first three months after the launch in April of the Early Conciliation scheme, which was introduced by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, 17,145 early conciliation notices were received by Acas.

Out of that number 16,605 were lodged by employees and 540 via the employer. The figures show that offers of conciliation were rejected by 7% of employees who were in dispute with their employer during the period. In the case of employers, 9% rejected the request where the employee had already agreed to go ahead with conciliation.

Early Conciliation was launched after the July 2013 introduction of tribunal fees. The scheme makes it compulsory for employees wishing to lodge a tribunal claim to first notify Acas, with the individual being prevented from bringing a claim if they have failed to take this step. At this point both parties are given the option of resolving the dispute through an Acas conciliator.

If either side does not wish to conciliate after the claimant has contacted Acas about the complaint, Acas will issue a conciliation certificate. The certificate will also be issued if no agreement can be reached after a month. Without this certificate, a claim will not be accepted by a tribunal.

Acas chief executive, Anne Sharp, said: “Early Conciliation has got off to a good start and has given us the chance to help more people resolve their disputes early.

“Early Conciliation has only been running for three months and it is still too soon to give a comprehensive analysis of the full impact of our new service but early indications are very positive.”

Following a Freedom of Information request made by law firm Irwin Mitchell, it was also found that the average length of time for an Early Conciliation certificate to be issued was 20 days.

Commenting on the figures from Acas, Fergal Dowling, employment partner at Irwin Mitchell, said: “These statistics point to a positive start for Early Conciliation. It is too early to judge what the impact will be on the future numbers of employment tribunals, but employers will no doubt be encouraged and welcome these findings.”