If Acas contacts your business about Early Conciliation, it usually means that an employee, former employee or other prospective claimant has notified Acas that they are considering bringing an Employment Tribunal claim and has agreed that Acas may approach you.
It does not mean that an Employment Tribunal has accepted the allegations, that the individual has proved their case or even that a Tribunal claim has been submitted. Acas is separate from the Employment Tribunal and does not decide who is right.
Employers should therefore avoid treating the first Acas contact as either a crisis or an automatic invitation to make an offer. The useful first question is not “How much will it cost to make this go away?” It is: what is actually being alleged, and how strong is our position?
What is Acas Early Conciliation?
Early Conciliation is a statutory process intended to give the parties an opportunity to resolve an employment dispute without a Tribunal claim having to proceed.
For most types of Employment Tribunal proceedings, a prospective claimant must first notify Acas before presenting the claim. There are specific exemptions, including certain cases involving interim relief and some circumstances where another claimant or the prospective respondent has already contacted Acas about the same dispute.
Once Acas has been notified, it offers Early Conciliation. Taking part in the actual settlement discussions is voluntary for both sides.
Employers can also approach Acas themselves where they believe a dispute may lead to Tribunal proceedings. However, an employer-led notification does not itself stop the prospective claimant’s Tribunal time limit running.
Why has Acas contacted your business?
If a prospective claimant has notified Acas and agreed that Acas may contact the employer, a conciliator will normally approach the business to see whether it wishes to participate.
The Acas contact is therefore evidence that a potential dispute has reached the Early Conciliation stage. It is not evidence that the allegations are correct.
Acas will discuss the issues the parties are willing to share, but conciliation is confidential and Acas does not disclose information supplied by one side to the other without permission.
An employer should use the initial contact to establish, as far as possible:
- who the prospective claimant is;
- what decision, event or conduct is being challenged;
- what type of claim appears to be contemplated;
- the relevant dates;
- what outcome the prospective claimant is seeking; and
- whether there are internal processes or appeals still underway.
Does an employer have to take part?
No. Participation in Early Conciliation discussions is voluntary. An employer can decline to engage and is not required to make a settlement offer.
That does not mean refusing to participate is always sensible.
A short conversation with Acas may help the employer understand what is being alleged, test whether there is a realistic route to settlement and assess whether the dispute is likely to proceed.
Equally, there may be cases where an employer has a strong position and sees no commercial reason to make an offer.
The correct decision depends on the underlying case, not simply on the fact that Acas has become involved.
What does the Acas conciliator do?
The conciliator is impartial. They do not act for the prospective claimant and do not represent the employer.
Acas conciliators can explain the conciliation process, discuss the issues, give an overview of relevant law, explore possible resolutions and discuss how Tribunals have approached similar disputes.
They cannot decide whether the claim is strong or weak, advise either side whether to accept a settlement, prepare a party’s Tribunal case or predict what the Tribunal will decide.
That distinction matters. An Acas conciliator can facilitate a negotiation. They are not a substitute for Employment Law advice on the merits, value or defence of the claim.
Step 1 — Understand the dispute
Before discussing money, establish what has happened.
Prepare a concise chronology covering the employment relationship, the decision or conduct being challenged, any internal process followed and the key communications between the parties.
Then identify the possible legal claims.
A dismissal dispute, for example, may raise very different issues from an unlawful deduction from wages, discrimination allegation or whistleblowing complaint. Where termination is central to the dispute, our dismissal advice for employers guidance explains the wider employer considerations.
Do not assume that the label used by the prospective claimant accurately describes the legal claim. Equally, do not dismiss a badly expressed allegation without considering what legal issues may sit behind it.
Step 2 — Gather the evidence
The Early Conciliation period should be used productively.
Identify and preserve documents likely to matter if the dispute continues. Depending on the case, these may include:
Contracts and policies
Check the employment contract, handbook, relevant policies and any contractual procedures.
Correspondence
Preserve emails, letters, messages and other communications relating to the dispute.
Meeting and process records
Collect investigation notes, meeting minutes, disciplinary or grievance documentation, consultation records and outcome correspondence.
Employment records
Relevant performance, absence, pay, working-time or personnel records may be important depending on the allegations.
Witnesses
Identify the managers, colleagues or other people who were directly involved while the events remain fresh in their minds.
Employers should not create retrospective evidence, rewrite contemporaneous records or attempt to improve an earlier decision after the event. The objective is to understand and preserve what actually happened.
Step 3 — Assess the employer’s position
Once the facts are reasonably clear, assess the case before deciding how to respond commercially.
Consider:
- what claims could realistically be brought;
- the evidence supporting the employer’s position;
- any weaknesses in the process followed;
- possible remedies and financial exposure;
- the credibility and availability of witnesses;
- management time and disruption;
- legal and representation costs;
- employee-relations or reputational implications; and
- the value of achieving finality.
This is where Harrington Raine’s Outcome-First approach matters. The question is not simply whether some legal risk exists. It is what result the business wants, how defensible its current position is and which route gives the best overall outcome.
Should the employer settle?
Sometimes. But not automatically.
Being contacted by Acas is not a reason, by itself, to pay money to end a dispute.
Where an employer has acted reasonably, followed a defensible process and has strong evidence, that should influence its strategy. A commercially sensible response may be to stand behind that position.
Conversely, defending a materially weak case purely as a matter of principle can consume significant management time and cost while producing little commercial benefit.
Settlement should therefore be assessed as one strategy among several.
The employer should consider both the likely value and merits of the potential claim and the wider cost of continuing the dispute.
Where a business is considering initiating a separate pre-termination settlement discussion rather than responding to an Acas approach, see our guide to protected conversations for employers.
Making an offer through Acas
If the employer decides that negotiation is worthwhile, the conciliator can communicate proposals between the parties.
Before making an offer, decide who within the business has authority to settle, what the acceptable financial range is and which non-financial terms matter.
Those terms might include matters such as an agreed reference, payments, return of property or confidentiality provisions. Acas guidance recognises that conciliation settlements can address both financial and practical outcomes.
Do not negotiate blind. An early offer may sometimes secure an attractive commercial outcome, but an employer should normally understand the allegations and its likely defence before deciding what the dispute is worth.
Conciliation discussions are confidential, and Acas does not pass them to the Tribunal.
What is a COT3?
Where the parties reach agreement through Acas, the terms are recorded in a conciliation agreement commonly known as a COT3.
A COT3 is legally binding. Acas states that once the parties have agreed the terms, they are required to comply with them even if the written COT3 has not yet been signed. Employers should therefore treat agreement on wording as a serious legal step rather than assuming nothing is binding until signatures appear on the document.
The scope of the COT3 should be considered carefully. Depending on the settlement, it may deal with payments, termination arrangements, references, confidentiality and the legal claims being resolved.
A COT3 is not the same as a statutory settlement agreement.
A statutory settlement agreement must satisfy specific legal conditions, including that the worker receives advice from an appropriate independent adviser. Acas’s separate settlement agreement guidance confirms those requirements.
A COT3 reached through Acas does not have that same independent-advice condition. The parties can still obtain their own legal advice, and in significant disputes it can be sensible to do so before final terms are agreed.
For more on the separate statutory agreement route, see settlement agreements for employers.
How long does Early Conciliation last?
For Early Conciliation notifications submitted to Acas on or after 1 December 2025, the statutory Early Conciliation period can last for up to 12 weeks.
The period was increased from six weeks to twelve weeks by regulations that took effect from 1 December 2025. It can end sooner where settlement is reached, a party does not wish to participate or Acas concludes that settlement is not possible.
Employers should not assume that twelve weeks will always be available for negotiation.
What happens to Tribunal time limits?
Employment Tribunal time limits need particular care because different claims can have different limitation periods and Early Conciliation affects the calculation.
The law in force on 9 September 2026
For many common Employment Tribunal claims, the current starting position remains a time limit of around three months, commonly expressed by Acas as three months minus one day from the relevant event. Other claims have different limits.
A prospective claimant normally needs to notify Acas within the applicable time limit.
The statutory Early Conciliation provisions then affect the limitation calculation. In provisions such as section 207B of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the period beginning after Acas receives the notification and ending when the Early Conciliation certificate is received is excluded when calculating the deadline. The legislation also contains a further rule which can provide at least one month after the certificate in relevant cases.
This is why describing Early Conciliation simply as “pausing the clock” can be useful shorthand but is not a safe substitute for calculating the statutory deadline in the particular case.
Acas itself warns that the exact deadline can be complicated and that only the Tribunal can ultimately decide whether a claim was presented in time.
Change from 1 October 2026
The Employment Rights Act 2025 has enacted a substantial extension of Tribunal limitation periods from three months to six months for the majority of claims.
Those provisions are not yet in force on the date this guide was reviewed.
Government implementation guidance confirms that, for most affected claims, the six-month regime begins on 1 October 2026 and applies where the relevant workplace event occurs on or after that date. Events before 1 October 2026 remain subject to the existing regime. The official guidance identifies a later commencement date of 9 November 2026 for employee breach-of-contract claims in Scotland.
Employers should therefore check the actual limitation period for the particular claim and relevant date rather than relying on a universal three-month or six-month formula.
What is an Early Conciliation certificate?
If Early Conciliation ends without settlement, Acas issues an Early Conciliation certificate containing a certificate number.
That number is normally required if the prospective claimant later submits an ET1 Employment Tribunal claim.
The certificate does not mean that a Tribunal claim has already been submitted.
It means the Early Conciliation stage has concluded for the purposes of the statutory process.
An employer may not always receive a copy. Acas states, for example, that the respondent will not receive one where the prospective claimant did not consent to Acas contacting the employer or where Acas was unable to establish contact.
What happens if no settlement is reached?
Nothing automatically requires the prospective claimant to proceed.
They may decide not to issue proceedings at all.
If they do bring a claim, they will normally submit an ET1 using the Early Conciliation certificate number where required. The Tribunal then decides whether to accept the claim and, if it proceeds, sends it to the respondent.
Acas conciliation can continue after the Early Conciliation period and during Tribunal proceedings until judgment.
The employer should therefore treat the end of Early Conciliation as a decision point, not necessarily the end of the dispute.
Preparing for a possible Tribunal claim
If there is a realistic prospect of proceedings, do not spend the period after Early Conciliation simply waiting for an ET1.
Organise the chronology, preserve relevant documents, identify witnesses, establish the likely legal defence and make sure key decision-makers understand the case.
Where appropriate, begin preparing the factual material that would eventually inform an ET3 response. There is usually no need to finalise an ET3 before seeing the actual allegations pleaded in the ET1, but the employer should not be starting from nothing if the claim arrives.
Once an Employment Tribunal claim is formally received, the respondent generally has 28 days from the date the Tribunal sent the claim to lodge its response.
Our forthcoming guide to responding to an Employment Tribunal claim will cover that stage in detail.
If the case does proceed, obtaining early Employment Tribunal defence support can help turn the evidence gathered during Early Conciliation into a structured defence strategy.
Common Early Conciliation mistakes
Common employer mistakes include:
- assuming that Acas contacting the business means the employee has a strong claim;
- making an immediate offer before understanding the allegations;
- refusing all engagement purely on principle;
- failing to establish the relevant dates and possible claims;
- overlooking discrimination, whistleblowing or other claims that may carry materially different risks;
- failing to preserve emails, messages or meeting records;
- allowing witnesses’ recollections to fade without recording the facts;
- making inconsistent explanations for earlier decisions;
- assuming every claim has the same Tribunal deadline;
- relying mechanically on an old “three months minus one day” calculation;
- agreeing COT3 wording without understanding its scope;
- assuming that an unsigned COT3 cannot yet be binding; and
- doing nothing while waiting to see whether an ET1 arrives.
The strongest approach is usually calm and evidence-led: understand the case, decide what outcome matters and then choose whether to negotiate or defend.
Frequently asked questions
Can an employer refuse to settle through Acas?
Yes. Early Conciliation is voluntary and there is no requirement for an employer to make or accept a settlement offer.
Does being contacted by Acas mean the employee has already made a Tribunal claim?
No. Early Conciliation generally takes place before an ET1 is issued. Acas is separate from the Employment Tribunal and does not determine the merits of the dispute.
Can a COT3 be agreed without the employee receiving independent legal advice?
Yes. The statutory independent-adviser requirement that applies to a settlement agreement is not a corresponding condition for a COT3 reached through Acas. However, either party can obtain legal advice before agreeing terms.
Can a party change its mind after agreeing a COT3?
Normally not simply because it later regrets the deal. Acas states that the agreement becomes legally binding once the parties have agreed it, even if the document has not yet been signed.
Can the parties keep negotiating after Early Conciliation ends?
Yes. Acas can continue conciliation after a Tribunal claim has been presented and up until judgment.
Should an employer start preparing for a claim before an ET1 arrives?
Where litigation is a realistic possibility, yes. Preserve the evidence, prepare a chronology, identify witnesses and understand the defence. The actual ET3 should respond to the claim that is eventually pleaded, but preparation should begin earlier.
For wider practical guidance on workplace disputes and employer obligations, see our HR & Employment Law resources.