A claim cannot be made direct to an Employment Tribunal until the ACAS Conciliation process has been completed. It is ALSO very important that you are sure about the correct name of the person who you are bringing the claim against who will be known as the Respondent.  The best way to establish their legal name is by checking either your contract of employment or payslip/P60.  As a contract can be out of date if you have been employed by them for a long time, it is often easier to check your payslip/P60.  You can also check online on the HMRC services tax record that is held for you here. If you have been dismissed and received a P45 your employers details will be on that document.

​It is vital that you keep a track of dates when you either resigned or were dismissed and/or the date of the act (i.e. if you were discriminated against), because it is difficult to succeed on extending time for your claim to be brought if you miss a deadline (which is a statutory limitation date).  We can however advise you on what steps to take if you have missed a deadline, in either circumstances, you must contact us immediately if you are at all unsure.  We can act swiftly for you.

ACAS provides two relevant forms of conciliation. Before presenting most Employment Tribunal claims, a prospective claimant must notify ACAS under the statutory early-conciliation procedure, unless an exemption applies. For notifications presented on or after 1 December 2025, the prescribed early-conciliation period is 12 weeks. Participation in settlement discussions is voluntary, and ACAS may conclude the process earlier if settlement is not possible.

At the conclusion of early conciliation, ACAS issues an early conciliation certificate containing a certificate number, which is generally required before the claimant may present the relevant Tribunal claim. The certificate may be issued whether conciliation was declined, proved unsuccessful or otherwise came to an end.

If Employment Tribunal proceedings are instituted, ACAS has a separate statutory conciliation role and may continue to assist the parties while the proceedings remain ongoing. That role is not limited to the pre-claim early-conciliation period.

Where the parties reach settlement through ACAS, the agreed terms are commonly recorded in a COT3. Once final agreement has been reached, it is legally binding and may be enforceable even if the formal document has not yet been signed, depending on the communications and terms agreed. If no settlement is reached, any existing Tribunal proceedings continue in the ordinary way.

For early-conciliation notifications submitted on or after 1 December 2025, the prescribed ACAS early-conciliation period is up to 12 weeks. Neither party is obliged to participate in substantive settlement discussions. If the employer declines to engage, or ACAS concludes that settlement is not reasonably achievable, ACAS may conclude the process and issue an early conciliation certificate before the end of that period.

Before presenting most Employment Tribunal claims, a prospective claimant must notify ACAS, unless a statutory exemption applies. Notification is generally mandatory, but participation in conciliation and agreement to any settlement remain voluntary.

Early conciliation affects the applicable Tribunal limitation period. Broadly, the period beginning after ACAS receives the notification and ending when the claimant receives, or is deemed to receive, the early conciliation certificate is excluded from the limitation calculation. In specified circumstances, the deadline is instead extended to one month after receipt of the certificate. The effect is not accurately described in every case as merely stopping and restarting the same clock, and the statutory calculation should be applied to the relevant dates and cause of action.

Early conciliation does not ordinarily revive a claim that was already out of time when ACAS received the notification. Once the process ends, ACAS issues an early conciliation certificate, whose number must generally be included on the Employment Tribunal claim form.

First, identify Day A and Day B.

Day A is the date on which the prospective claimant complies with the statutory requirement to notify ACAS by providing the prescribed early-conciliation information. It is not necessarily the date on which a conciliator is allocated or substantive discussions begin.

Day B is the date on which the prospective claimant receives, or is treated as receiving, the ACAS early conciliation certificate.

Early conciliation modifies the applicable Employment Tribunal limitation period in two stages. First, the period beginning with the day after Day A and ending with Day B is not counted when calculating the deadline. Secondly, if the deadline calculated in that way would expire between Day A and one calendar month after Day B, the deadline is instead extended to one calendar month after Day B.

For example, if the effective date of termination is 1 May 2023, the ordinary unfair-dismissal deadline is 31 July 2023. If Day A is 1 May and Day B is 8 May, the seven days from 2 to 8 May inclusive are not counted. The adjusted deadline is therefore 7 August 2023.

If the effective date of termination is 1 May 2023, Day A is 1 July and Day B is 12 August, the excluded period is 2 July to 12 August inclusive. The stop-the-clock calculation produces 11 September 2023. Because that date falls within the period ending one calendar month after Day B, the final deadline is 12 September 2023.

For early-conciliation notifications made under the current regime, early conciliation can last for up to 12 weeks, although ACAS may conclude the process earlier. The maximum period is not automatically added to the limitation period; the actual Day A and Day B dates must be used.

Early conciliation does not ordinarily revive a claim that was already out of time when ACAS was notified. Where early conciliation began before the applicable limitation period started, only the part occurring while limitation was running will ordinarily affect the calculation. Each cause of action must be calculated separately.