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Government attempts to reduce Tribunal applications

The Government is to increase funding for ACAS by £37m to provide an on-going role in conciliation of employment disputes through the conduct of employment disputes, but there are fears that this is likely to be at the expense of employers interests.

The move is part of a package of measures to support the removal of the current three step procedure expected in the Spring of 2009 and reduce the ever-increasing number of employment Tribunals. Other measures, such as the discretion on the Tribunal to increase awards by up to 25% if the ACAS code as practice is not followed, are all aimed at less cases coming before the Tribunals.

The back-log of cases experienced by ACAS after the passing of the Employment Act 2002 which left them unable to effectively support peaceful settlements is one area for concern in the change, as is the relative complication and proliferation of the ACAS codes – whatever the challenges with the three step process, it is universal whereas the new process will require knowledge and application of several different codes of practice in different circumstances – e.g. discrimination and grievance both currently attract different codes for the employer to follow. Whilst the Employment Bill is in it’s early stages and refinements are expected, there are gloomy predictions about the likely growth of a whole new industry of untrained workplace conciliators preying on businesses nervous of the effect of the changes and without the time to interpret them properly. Any objective analysis of the changes as they are currently mooted seem to show an encouragement on employers to aim for a financial settlement rather than fight their corner even when they have done nothing wrong and are faced with a knowledgeable litigant. The current balance of change certainly seems to be in favour of the employee and to add further complication to the employer’s position.