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From 6 April 2009, Acas has discretionary power to provide conciliation in certain circumstances on matters that could come before the employment tribunal, before a claim has been made.
If an employee chooses to make a Tribunal Claim, they will fill in a form called an ET1 in which they will specify the nature of their complaint against the organisation.
The employer will then receive notification that a claim has been made and will be asked to make their response on a form called an ET3 within 28 days of the original submission of the ET1.
Defending a claim at Tribunal is both time consuming and costly, and there are a number of alternative options:
- The claim can be settled through a conciliation officer at ACAS. ACAS is involved automatically in nearly all types of complaint heard at an Employment Tribunal. The Employment Tribunal Service will send ACAS a copy of the ET1 and ET3 and they will contact both you and your employee or worker, by letter. If you prefer, you can decide not to deal with ACAS directly but through a representative such as your solicitor.
- The claim can be settled the claim privately through an appropriate adviser.
- Your employee can withdraw the claim by writing to the Tribunal.
- For cases of alleged unfair dismissal or cases about requests for flexible working only, you can both agree to opt for the ACAS Arbitration Scheme
An ex-employee is taking the Company to an Employment Tribunal, how much could this cost?
The cost of going to tribunal has numerous elements and below are a few areas that will highlight some of the direct and indirect costs that may be incurred:
Tribunal Costs
Legal Costs:
£2,000 to £5,000 depending on complexity of case and cost of solicitor, plus use of barrister (around £3,000 would be our expectation for a case that lasted, or was expected to last, one day)
In-house Time:
It has been estimated that HR Managers and Operations Managers can spend up to 2 weeks on preparing paperwork and preparing themselves for the witness box. This includes drawing up witness statements and time taken to attend the tribunal plus any meetings with solicitors.
Therefore, for a manager on £25,000 per annum, the cost to the business could be around £1000 plus two weeks distraction from the work they should be doing.
Out of Court Settlements
Compromise Agreement: (used prior to tribunal application being made)
- Legal fees c. £600 (significantly higher for a more senior person or a more complex compromise agreement)
- Plus monies agreed
Agreement through ACAS: (only applicable once tribunal application has been made)
- Legal fees to compile response to application (prior to this being done ACAS will not get involved) - c. £500 to £1000 depending on complexity and who is doing it.
- Monies agreed only
What happens if I cannot afford to pay?
It is standard practice that an award payment is a one off payment. However it may be possible, if mutually agreed between you and the claimant, that the award could be paid in instalments. This decision will be dependant on the amount of the award and the financial circumstances of both parties.
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