Acas has helped businesses avoid more than 2,000 employment tribunal claims since the introduction of the pre-claim conciliation (PCC) service and has recently expanded the service to include all major types of workplace issues.
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 referrals from the Acas helpline and 70% of these were resolved without going to tribunal. Ed Sweeney, Acas chairman, said: “It’s reassuring that the PCC service has already helped businesses save a great deal of money—particularly in this economic climate.”