Which is probably why April of this year will see the introduction of compulsory “Early Conciliation” for those intending to make an Employment Tribunal claim. Presumably, after having introduced punitive Employment Tribunal fees, the government felt that claimants should have the chance of avoiding those fees by having conciliation discussions before Tribunal proceedings are issued. As ever however, there is a fair bit of complexity to the arrangements.
It will be compulsory for claimants to contact ACAS before issuing Tribunal proceedings (you will need to quote an ACAS conciliation reference number on your Tribunal claim form). The good news however is that contacting ACAS (by completing their Early Conciliation form) will stop the claimant’s limitation period running. Once ACAS has been contacted, it will have a month to try to broker a settlement (this can be extended by a further two weeks if necessary). If settlement negotiations break down for any reason, then ACAS will issue a certificate confirming that the conciliation process has taken place. The certificate will contain the all-important reference number to put on your Tribunal claim form, and the claimant’s limitation period will start to run again. As an added bonus, when that time does run again, the claimant will always have a minimum of one month in which to issue Tribunal proceedings.
On the negative side, all of these new time limits and rules are likely to cause errors to be made, and some issues will require clarification in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. On the positive side, there may be some occasions when the new rule provides an extra breathing space. At present, solicitors are often faced with difficult and hurried decisions when claimants consult them just before limitation expires. Under the new rules however, simply completing an Early Conciliation form will provide an extra 6-8 weeks in which to advise a claimant more fully, gather all the facts, and if necessary prepare a comprehensive claim form.
And that will of course also leave plenty of time to apply for a FeeSafe policy to protect against the risk of paying Employment Tribunal fees and Counsel’s fees!