Conciliation helps prevents 71% of cases from reaching a hearing

2 mins

Posted on 25 May 2016

Acas has published an independent research paper which considers the effect of its conciliation processes and reveals that 71% of cases did not proceed to a hearing.

Between April 2015 and March 2016:

Acas dealt with 92,000 early conciliation cases, nearly 1,000 more than the same period the previous year

More than 4,000 employers approached Acas for early conciliation, a 60% increase compared to the same period the previous year.

71% of claims either notified to Acas or issued did not then proceed to a hearing. This statistic can be broken down as follows:

31% of cases were settled at the early conciliation stage

In 17% of cases, Acas conciliation at the early conciliation stage was credited as important by claimants in their decision not to proceed to a hearing

22% of cases were settled at the post-claim stage

In 1% of cases, Acas conciliation at the post-claim stage was credited as important by claimants in their decision not to proceed to a hearing.

The report also revealed that:

54% of claimants thought that taking part in early conciliation made it quicker to resolve their employment tribunal claim

87% of claimants and 92% of employers reported that they would use Acas again

63% of claimants who took part in early conciliation felt better prepared for the subsequent employment tribunal claim process

Of the claimants that withdrew their claim, 27% said that this was because they would not win or it would be a waste of time, 20% said that this was because tribunal fees were "off- putting" and 17% said they found the process too stressful.

The Research Paper, Evaluation of Acas conciliation in Employment Tribunal applications 2016, can be viewed here.

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