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According to the latest data from Acas, published July 2025, 69% of early conciliation notifications did not progress to employment tribunal between October to December 2024, either because an agreement was reached, it was settled, or the case was not pursued. But what is early conciliation, and how does it relate to employment tribunals? Stacie Cheadle, Croner-I Technical Writer, looks at this below.
Since 2014 accessing the services Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, or Acas, has been an essential first step in the process to bring an ET claim in the form of early conciliation. The purpose of this process is to try and reach an agreement or settlement between the parties involved to avoid going to ET, and according to the latest statistics, 69% of early conciliation notifications to Acas do not progress to an employment tribunal.
What is early conciliation?
Before lodging an ET claim, the employee must contact Acas first. This then begins a six-week period of early conciliation to try to help settle the dispute without the need to lodge a tribunal claim. Early conciliation covers most employment disputes, such as ordinary unfair dismissal, redundancy payments, discrimination, rights to time off and family-friendly rights.
Whilst early conciliation is mandatory, the process is voluntary. Even though the employee is legally required to contact Acas before bringing a claim, neither party is obliged to participate in the conciliation and can stop whenever they wish, either bringing it to an end early (if both sides and the conciliator agrees) or waiting to the end of the six-week period. Once the period has ended, the employee will be issued with an early conciliation certificate and number, which must be added to the employment tribunal claim form (an ET1).
What happens in early conciliation?
An Acas conciliator will be allocated to the case, and they will make contact, separately, with both parties. Their role is to be the go-between, between your client and the employee, to try to reach an agreement that satisfies the employee enough to no longer pursue the claim. This is usually through paying out in a settlement. If your client does agree to a settlement with the employee, the conciliator will draw up a ‘COT3’ that outlines the agreement and the amount to be paid, and confirms that the employee will not bring a claim on this issue. This document will need to be signed by both parties.
The benefit of this route, as opposed to a privately engaged legal representative, is that neither party must pay for the conciliator: they are funded by Acas. As a result, your client can avoid the fees associated with engaging representation and preparing a settlement agreement (which has the same effect as a COT 3) for the case. However, if the conciliation period is unsuccessful, the employee can go straight to ET afterwards, whereas if there was an attempt at a private settlement via legal representation there would still be a need to enter early conciliation, giving your client a second chance at negotiations.
