Employment Tribunals Early Conciliation Extension

The Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (SI2020/1003) have extended the early conciliation period for Acas in order to help the potential claimant and employer reach a settlement in advance of a possible employment tribunal claim.

The prescribed period for early conciliation of one month is increased to six weeks. The Regulations also amend the rules on early conciliation to allow:

• Acas to contact the potential claimant to correct errors or obtain any missing information in the early conciliation notification form at any time during the early conciliation period;
• And employment tribunals more discretion over handling errors on claim forms, such as an incorrect early conciliation certificate reference number.