What is ACAS early conciliation?

Before you can make a claim at employment tribunal, you must go through ACAS early conciliation. This is a free service where an independent ACAS adviser tries to help you and your employer reach agreement without going to tribunal. It's mandatory—you cannot skip it, but it often settles disputes quickly.

Call ACAS: 0300 123 1100 (free call, available Mon-Fri 8am-6pm)

Or visit: www.acas.org.uk/conciliation

Tell ACAS the basics: your name, your employer, what the dispute is about. They'll register you for early conciliation.

1. ACAS contacts both sides. They reach out to you and your employer to explain the process.
2. Conciliation calls. An ACAS adviser calls you separately (confidential), then calls your employer separately. They listen to both sides.
3. Settlement discussions. ACAS helps identify common ground and tries to work towards agreement. This takes 1-4 weeks.
4. Outcome: Either you agree (settlement), or you don't, and ACAS issues a "certificate" to say conciliation is done.

It's free. No cost to you or your employer.

It's confidential. What you tell ACAS cannot be used against you in tribunal later.

It settles most cases. Around 25-30% of cases settle through ACAS.

It's quick. 1-4 weeks instead of tribunal (which takes 6-12 months).

ACAS issues a "certificate" saying they've tried and failed. You then have 3 months to submit your claim (ET1 form) to the Employment Tribunal. But you cannot submit to tribunal without first going through ACAS—except in rare cases.

You must contact ACAS within 3 months minus 1 day of when you were dismissed (or discriminated against, etc.). If you contact ACAS in time, the clock stops—you have an extra 3 months after ACAS finishes to submit to tribunal.