There is a lot of information available about the ACAS early conciliation process. For this reason we have not repeated it all here. If you want to know more information about early conciliation, our suggestion would be to go to the experts – ACAS. They have an excellent website which you should visit: https://www.acas.org.uk/. If you are still reading this you therefore probably already know that:

• Before bringing a claim in the employment tribunal, employees and workers must contact ACAS and undergo mandatory early conciliation.
• Employers may be contacted by ACAS as part of this process, but there is no requirement for this to happen.
• The purpose of the process is to see if claims can be resolve before they are brought.
• The process lasts six weeks but can be shortened if it is going nowhere.
• Once the process is concluded, employees and workers get a certificate which they provide to the employment tribunal. This allows them to bring their claim.

We like ACAS. We have dealt with ACAS for many, many years and we know their officers perform an excellent job. However, we also recognize that they are very busy and provide completely impartial advice.

We think that employees and employers facing this process should have the advantage of specialist legal advice given from their point of view. The same considerations in settling a case at the door of the employment tribunal must apply at the outset of the case – and this takes time, expertise and an assessment from your point of view.

We don’t charge for an initial conversation. We never have. We want to make sure that there is something that we can actually help with. Why not call us on 0161 711 0140 or click here to make an on-line enquiry.

If we can help, we can offer a fixed fee review and assessment of the potential claim case so that you can make sure that if agreement is reached, it is the right agreement – whether you are the employee or the employer.

We do charge – there is real value in what we do and it takes time. Fees are competitive and fixed. If done correctly this process could save you thousands of pounds in costs and avoid all the stress of legal proceedings but you need to ensure that a settlement now is the right result.

Chambers O’Neill is a specialist employment law practice based in Manchester and listed since its establishment in the Legal 500, an independent directory of the leading law firms in the UK.

We offer a practical, hands-on approach backed up by over 25 years’ experience of providing high quality, expert legal advice to employers and employees.