The early conciliation scheme packs some hidden complexities notes Charles Pigott
The bare bones of the ACAS early conciliation scheme are set out in s 7 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, which inserts a new s 18A into the Employment Tribunals Act 1996. The scheme is fleshed out by the Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/254). The Early Conciliation Regulations set out a sequence of relatively simple procedural steps that need to be followed. These start with the potential claimant making contact with ACAS either by phone or by the submission of a simple form. Assuming settlement is not reached, the process ends with ACAS issuing an early conciliation certificate which will contain a unique reference number. The conciliation window is set at a maximum of a month, subject to a two week extension which requires the consent of both sides.
The Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/271) amend the 2013 rules of procedure to require claimants either to provide the certificate reference number or to explain why the scheme does
