Great Britain: the annual report of the ACAS conciliation and mediation service shows an increase in cases of pre-employment tribunal claims

The pre-Employment Tribunal claims are open to both employers and employees to use to avoid lengthy and costly employment tribunals which have dramatically increased over the last ten years and whose numbers the current and previous governments have sought to control and limit. Classified as Pre-Claim Conciliation, the casework load rose by 34% in 2011-2012 with ACAS dealing with 23,777 cases, some 6,000 more cases than the previous year. Pre-Claim Conciliation was launched in April 2009 and aims to resolve workplace problems before they result in a costly and stressful employment tribunal claims. Through the Pre-Claim Conciliation offered by ACAS, 78 per cent of cases do not then go forward to become Employment Tribunal cases. This was an increase from the 74 per cent recorded for 2010-2011. Unfair dismissal is the most common problem handled through Pre-Claim Conciliation, followed by claims about wages, breach of contract, holiday and disability discrimination. The success of Pre-Claim Conciliation has led to the current government to propose that anyone intending to make an Employment Tribunal claim should come to ACAS first. The new service, called early conciliation, will start from 2014.