Employment Tribunals No Longer Favoured by Employers and Employees
The latest data released by Acas an employment relations service shows a growing trend in recent months among employers and employees to bypass the Employment Tribunal. This trend is all the more visible because many employers and employees are opting for the early conciliation i.e., the pre-claim conciliation Service (PCC) .These referrals have resulted from calls to the Acas helpline and it has been found that the number of such calls has doubled since September 2009.
The PCC service is a free service provided with the purpose of reducing the number of cases referred to the Employment Tribunal, which is an expensive proposition. Instead, the parties are encouraged to resolve the dispute mutually.
This service began last April, corresponding to the changes brought about in the Employment Act. That this helpline service is successful is proven by the fact that up to February 2010, a total of 8,304 referrals were made and according to the estimates of Acas, around five thousand cases fit for the Employment Tribunal did not actually make it to the Tribunal because of this service.
The demand for this service is growing at a steady pace. The figure of referral cases for the last quarter of 2009 was 2,700. The first quarter of 2010 is over and there is already a visible further increase in cases of referrals. Presently the figure is 300 referrals per week, which, according to estimates is expected to go up to 400 referrals each week sometime in the year. The projection for this year is that the total number or referrals will see an increase of twenty percent as compared to the figures available for 2009.
Ed Sweeney, the Chair at Acas says that the figures showing the current trend are exciting. Analyzing the reason for this trend, he points out that this option of pre-claim conciliation is able to solve disputes within three weeks which is quite fast compared to the six to nine months time taken by the Employment Tribunal to settle disputes. Secondly, with the downturn in economy many new challenges and issues are coming up resulting in disputes between the employers and employees. Thus, this new option helps in resolving settling disputes swiftly, saving precious time and energy.
Employers can keep themselves up to date with HR and personnel developments to enhance the working capability of employees by taking an accredited CIPD course, such as the Certificate in Personnel Practice. The course provides a firm foundation in all the areas of HR and employment law and a better understanding of how employment practice works to help organisations to set their own organisation’s policies and procedures in context.
