* early conciliation tony cooper, director, acas south west
TRANSCRIPT
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* Early ConciliationTony Cooper, Director, Acas South West
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Early Conciliation – The background
• Long history of conciliation• Pre-claim conciliation introduced in 2009• Very successful
• 24% formal settlement• 50% no ET1 submitted
• Drawbacks?• Often not enough time before ET1
due for submission to conciliate• Only taken up by small percentage
of those lodging ET1’s
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Early conciliation
• Introduced April 2014• Aimed to address those two issues by:
• Requiring all potential tribunal claimants to notify Acas first of their intention to make a tribunal claim
• Providing for the expiry of the claimant's legal limitation deadline to be placed on hold for a period of time following the notification.
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Early Conciliation– Myth No.1
• Mandatory conciliation
• Obligation to notify Acas of intention to claim
• Web-based form
• Engaging with the conciliation process is voluntary
• Early conciliation support officers
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Early Conciliation- Main features
• Following notification to Acas, the claimant’s limitation period for making a tribunal claim is put on hold.
• This “stop-the-clock” period allows conciliation to take place without the claimant needing to take legal steps to protect their rights
• It creates more time to explore settlement than now
• One calendar month initial period
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Early Conciliation -Main features
• Provisions for both early conclusion, and extension, of the limitation pause
• If conciliation is unsuccessful we will issue a Certificate and the claimant can make a Tribunal claim
• Presenting in time remains the responsibility of the Claimant (not Acas)
• At least one calendar month to present after EC
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Early Conciliation – Main features
• Case for life – an EC request is not a separate claim
• Conciliation can still take place after the limitation pause comes to an end but before a claim is submitted
• Conciliation offered after an ET1
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Early Conciliation- How is it working?
• Volume of notifications:
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Early Conciliation- How is it working?
• Engaging with the process:
EC Take Up Number Percent
Offer of conciliation rejected by employee 3,783 10%
Offer of conciliation rejected by employer (where employee accepted)
3,727 10%
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Early Conciliation- How is it working?
• Early indications of outcomes
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Early conciliation – impact on ET cases
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Early Conciliation– Myth No.2
• Acas should be “weeding out” the weak claims
• Acas conciliation is a “further barrier to justice”
• No regulatory power
• Conciliation is voluntary
• Inform, influence, persuade
• Only Employment Tribunal has power to strike out a claim
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Early conciliation – impact on ET cases
April – June 2014
• 3,792 single claims received• 70% down on corresponding quarter in 2013• 33% down on previous quarter
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Early conciliation – Benefits?
Early resolution is:
• It is a free service, and overall costs are a fraction of those for Employment Tribunals (8% of costs for employers; 2% for employees)
• It is voluntary – there is no obligation to continue at any point in the process
• It is easier and less time consuming • It’s a chance to avoid the stress, cost and anxiety of a
tribunal claim
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• Acas is collating a contact list - For more information, contact: [email protected]
• Engage with the process, particularly if you are likely to want a copy of the certificate at a later stage
• S18b notification
Early Conciliation- Practical tips:
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Early conciliation – where next?
• Employment Tribunal decisions starting to emerge• Exemptions• Timescales for entering a ET claim
• Unison judicial review?
• General election?• Labour proposals to review fees announced at Autumn
conference
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Early conciliation – where next?
• Continue to work with BIS to refine aspects of the policy framework of the service
• Continue to learn how conciliators can best focus their efforts to meet the needs of parties
• Research next year – to tell us more about the contribution we make to dispute resolution over and above the COT3 settlement, and the factors that influence the behaviours of the parties to the dispute.
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Acas contact information
Acas website – www.acas.org.uk
ECSO team- 0300 123 1122
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How Acas can help
mediation
training
e-learning
websiteacas.org.uk
publicationsCustomer services team0300 123 1150
Acas helpline0300 123 1100
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BIS Growth Vouchers
• Acas services can be purchased with a Growth Voucher
• Cover half the cost for advice and support up to £2,000
• Who’s eligible:• Co. size fewer than 250 fte• Turnover less than £45 million
• Two areas of work:• “improving management & leadership skills”• “recruiting and developing your workforce”
• Apply for vouchers before end March 2015 • Work to be completed before end June 2015• www.acas.org.uk/sw • 0300 123 1150