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Acas early conciliation period to double
Many employers will be aware by now of the potential reforms contained in the Employment Rights Bill and the impact this could have on employment tribunal claims in the long term. However, a lesser touted but more immediate reform to the employment tribunal process is to take place shortly.
The government has made regulations to increase the Acas early conciliation period from 6 to 12 weeks from 1 December 2025.
The Acas early conciliation period is a mandatory precursor to the issue of a majority of employment tribunal claims. It is a period where Acas can look to facilitate settlement between the parties to avoid litigation. Currently, if settlement cannot be reached within the 6-week period, Acas must issue an early conciliation certificate which claimants require if they wish to issue their claim(s).
This period is important because during Acas early conciliation, the time limit to bring an employment tribunal claim (typically three months less a day from the date of dismissal or act complained of) is effectively paused and is restarted by the issuing of the certificate. The effect of this is that often employers don’t learn about the potential for a claim for many months after the event especially since conciliation can be started by a would-be claimant on the last day before their time limit might otherwise expire, gaining them an extension of time.
The explanatory memorandum to the regulations explains that increasing the early conciliation period is designed to ease the “significant pressure” Acas is currently under from the increased number of prospective claims it is receiving. It has been reported that in some cases, parties are not being contacted until the end of the conciliation period or indeed are not contacted at all, leaving little or no time for meaningful negotiations.
Comment
The immediate impact for employers from this proposed change is that potential litigants who start Acas early conciliation in time, will have longer to bring an employment tribunal claim given the extended conciliation period.
Employers who have recently received claims against them in the employment tribunal will be aware that because of administrative burden and the backlog of claims it can already take months before they are notified of a claim being issued against them. The extension of the Acas early conciliation period will ultimately lengthen the period between an employer becoming aware of a potential dispute via Acas (if they do at all) and actually receiving an employment tribunal claim.
Considered in conjunction with the proposal under the Employment Rights Bill to extend the time limit in the employment tribunal from 3 to 6 months, it is possible that employers will be unaware of claims for up to a year (or more). With the knock-on effect this could have on the memories of witnesses and the availability of evidence it is therefore important that where there appears to be a risk of a claim that employers preserve the document trail and consider speaking with witnesses early. To flush out the potential for any future claims, exit interviews with employees might also be a consideration to gain some visibility of possible future action so necessary steps can be taken.