1 December 2025: Acas Early Conciliation will be extended by up to 12 weeks
New regulations have been laid before the Parliament to extend the Acas Early Conciliation (EC) period from a maximum of six weeks to a maximum of 12 weeks. This new EC period will apply when a prospective claimant submits an EC form to Acas on or after 1 December 2025.
The explanatory note says that the government is making this change to ease the “significant pressure” on the early conciliation service in the light of increased demand.
What are the issues with current system?
There are lots of problems with the current Acas EC framework that undermine its effectiveness and compromise the parties’ ability to engage in meaningful resolution prior to tribunal proceedings:
- Delayed notification to representatives
Despite EC certificates including dates which show that a claimant initiated the weeks earlier, Acas frequently fails to notify the respondent’s representatives until a few days before the EC period expires. We've even had cases where the first contact we've had with Acas has taken place after the EC period has ended. - Insufficient time for conciliation due to notification failures
It is commonplace for our employer clients to be given less than one week to engage in conciliation, solely due to ACAS’s failure to notify them that the EC period had commenced. - Late appointment of conciliators
We've also had cases where conciliators have only been assigned in the final days of the EC period. In one such case, the certificate was issued two days after the conciliator’s appointment, rendering any opportunity for resolution impracticable.
How long will employees have to lodge claims?
The extension of the EC period from six weeks to twelve weeks will affect the calculation of limitation periods. Under the current framework, the limitation clock is paused during the EC period, and claimants have at least one month to submit a claim after the EC certificate is issued. Once the EC period is extended to twelve weeks, the limitation clock will be paused for up to 12 weeks.
What impact will this have on the parties?
The explanatory note includes an assessment which says that the impact on businesses is low, and is offset by the “benefit … of increased conciliation” (the reduction in costs associated with employment tribunal claims).
It also says that it consulted major unions, business groups and legal stakeholders and that there was “broad agreement for the change”.
On the surface it may appear that offering a more generous window to resolve disputes before resorting to tribunal proceedings is a good thing. The current time limits are very tight and, in some cases, having longer to reach agreement before an employee actually submits a claim might work. But dig a little deeper and its difficult to see how this will make much difference to the eventual outcome in the vast majority of cases, other than extending the process further.
Plus, Acas can't cope with the current demands on its services. And that problem will only get worse once the various provisions of the Employment Rights Bill come into force.
What Acas really needs is more money to recruit skilled conciliators and/or for the government to rejig the entire process so that conciliation is only required once the employee has issued a claim. That way the employer would know the employee is serious and would have enough information about their complaints to make a judgment call about whether to try to settle the claim at an early stage.
There's no spare money for the first option and there doesn't appear to be an appetite for the latter. The government has said that it will be reviewing these changes in October 2026 so it's possible that it may consider more radical proposals. I won't hold my breath.
So where does this leave employers?
It may take even longer for an employer to find out that a member of staff intends to bring a claim against them. And once employment tribunal limitation periods are extended to six months, it could take up to a year to find out. Relevant staff may have left and memories may have dimmed in the interim.
This won't help claimants either. They are already facing significant delays in getting their cases heard and this will make that situation worse.
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