Discipline and Grievances - Acas success with the Pre-Claim Conciliation service

Written by Ian Congreave - Filed under: Discipline and Grievances, Employment Law on December 4th, 2009

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In the seven months since the Pre-Claim Conciliation (PCC) service was introduced, Acas has helped businesses avoid more than 2,000 employment tribunal claims.

The PCC service was launched in April 2009 alongside the new Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures following the Government’s Dispute Resolution Review in 2007. Acas recently expanded the service to include all major types of workplace issues.

The PCC service aims to save businesses time, money and stress by tackling workplace issues early to prevent costly and stressful employment tribunals. On average employers spent just over three days using the PCC service, compared to nearly 14 days on a claim which escalates to an employment tribunal hearing.

Since the introduction of PCC, Acas has handled 3,500 PCC referrals from the Acas helpline and 70 per cent of these were resolved without going to tribunal. Even when the PCC service was unable to settle a dispute, only four in ten referrals progressed into a claim by the end of August.

Further information:

Acas helps businesses avoid more than 2,000 employment tribunal claims

Pre-claim conciliation - a free Acas service