16 January 2015

Acas has revised its Early Conciliation form.


Two changes have been made:

1. A new field has been inserted so the Claimant can include contact details of their representative (if s/he has one). If the Claimant gives details of a representative, Acas will contact the representative directly.

2. The employer address lookup facility has been removed, as it was proving difficult for Claimants to give the correct legal identity of their employer. So Claimants now have to input the correct address manually.


Both these changes were highlighted as problems with the early conciliation scheme by speakers at the IER Employment Law Update event last year.

To read more about the changes to the employment tribunal system, Access to justice in employment disputes: surveying the terrain is part of a two-and-a-half year project by researchers at the University of Bristol, bringing together expert critique and debate from some of the UK’s top specialists in employment tribunals and mediation. Another IER publication, Justice Deferred: a critical guide to the Coalition’s employment tribunal reforms documents how access to justice is being systematically shut down by the Coalition government.