The statistics highlight that ACAS dealt with over 83,000 EC cases between April 2014 and March 2015, and 3 out of 4 employees and employers agreed to try EC in its first year of operation.
Of the EC notifications received between April 2014 and December 2014:-
- 63% did not proceed to a tribunal claim;
- a further 15% resulted in a formal COT3 settlement;
- 22% progressed to a tribunal claim; and
- of the 22% in which a claim was issued, 51% were settled before a hearing with ACAS assistance
Tribunal claim statistics for January to March 2015 were published last month too. Unsurprisingly, they showed a continuing decline in the number of Tribunal claims being received.
Comment: Clearly, ACAS Early Conciliation process and Tribunal fee system has so far been very much in favour of employers as well as having the desired reduction on the Employment Tribunal caseload. It has also meant that an employers strategy in combatting potential litigation has been largely determined by the new regime.
However, many still firmly believe that things have gone too far and that Claimants are being denied access to justice through the Tribunal system. In the light of this, the government recently announced that later this year it will review the Employment Tribunal fees and the fee remission scheme, it will consider how effective theses introductions have been in meeting the original financial and behavioural objectives, whilst maintaining access to justice.
We are also still waiting for the Court of Appeal’s decision concerning the High Court’s dismissal of Unison’s judicial review application of the Tribunal fee system.
Add a Comment