Employment tribunal? Try pre-claims conciliation at Acas first
March 26, 2010 by admin
Filed under Career News and Advice
The number of people seeking to resolve an employment dispute by going to tribunal has shot up since the start of the recession, with 90,000 cases heard last year alone compared with an average of about 68,000 a year in each of the three previous years. Each case costs the employer an average of £2,000 just to complete the tribunal form, and up to £4,210 for advice and representation after the claim has been submitted, according to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas).
No wonder then that increasing numbers are opting for a new – and free – pre-claim conciliation (PCC) service.
“This is cheaper than going to tribunal, and it’s much quicker too,” says Ed Sweeney, the Acas chair. “It can take six to nine months to get to tribunal, but with the PCC service, your dispute could be sorted in a few days.”
The speed and ease of addressing a dispute can really help to reduce the stress suffered by employees – an important consideration, according to Michael Gibbons, author of Better Dispute Resolution, a review for the Department of Trade and Industry in 2007. Quoting the 2003 survey of employment tribunal applications (SETA), he said: “The burden of preparation and anxiety over what is to come can adversely affect health and strain relationships both within and outside the workplace, and the experience can damage future career prospects. Survey data shows stress and depression were reported in 33% of cases (rising to 43% for discrimination cases).”
The as yet unpublished 2008 SETA reports similar results: 36% of claimants said they suffered stress or depression, or that they had found the case emotionally draining. Stressful impacts were more common if the claimant had brought a discrimination case (48%) or if the claimant was a woman (46%). The next most commonly mentioned negative effects on claimants were: physical health problems (10%); difficulty in getting re-employed (9%); and loss of confidence or self-esteem (8%).
Acas conducted a trial of the service in 2008, which involved 900 cases: most of the companies involved were small businesses with 15 or fewer staff. Of those that took part, 60% were satisfied with the outcome of the PCC service, while the remaining 40% went on to tribunal.
The service was offered nationwide in April last year, and has handled 8,304 referrals since then. “Interestingly, now the scheme has been rolled out, we’re finding that the proportion going on to tribunal is smaller. About one third end up making a claim,” says Ron Woods, assistant director, inidual conciliation policy, at Acas. “A lot of these are where the employer flatly refuses to talk.”
So far, suitable candidates for the service have been identified when they have called the Acas helpline: the vast majority – 85% – therefore have been employees seeking advice after they have been sacked, have had an argument with their boss, or feel they have been discriminated against in some way. But Acas is keen to raise awareness of the scheme with both employees and employers, and would like them to regard this as the first – and, hopefully, only – course of action necessary to solve a serious dispute.
Read the original article at Guardian