The government has increased the maximum Acas early conciliation period from six to 12 weeks for any case notified to it on or after 1 December 2025.
Current position
Before a claimant can issue a claim in an employment tribunal, they must register their claim with Acas and commence early conciliation.
Early conciliation is the period, currently limited to six weeks, in which Acas has a duty to promote settlement, once a potential claimant notifies it of their potential claim. Once Acas receives notification, the “clock” for the purposes of calculating the limitation period for the potential claim is paused while the parties and Acas explore conciliation.
Acas assigns a conciliator who contacts the claimant and, if the claimant wishes to conciliate, the respondent, to explore whether they can reach a settlement without the claimant lodging a formal employment tribunal claim. If they agree a settlement, they enter into a COT3 agreement recording the terms and the claim will not proceed to tribunal. If the parties do not agree a settlement, Acas will issue a certificate to show that the early conciliation process has ended and the claimant can proceed with initiating a tribunal claim.
New position
From 1 December 2025, the timeframe in which Acas will carry out early conciliation will increase from six to 12 weeks. The change is in response to increased demand on Acas, both in terms of the number and increased complexity of cases. The change also allows the parties more time to explore settlement options. If this additional time leads to an increase in pre-litigation settlements, this will also ease the pressure on the tribunal system. At the moment, we are seeing preliminary hearings being listed for well into 2026 and full hearings into 2027 already.
Any claims brought to Acas before 1 December 2025 will still have a six-week maximum early conciliation period. The government plans to review the new 12-week maximum period in October 2026.
What does this mean moving forwards?
The change may mean that employers will have a longer period of uncertainty after they become aware of a potential claim, given that the “pause of the limitation clock” will now be longer.
Employers will also need to make sure they are keeping records clearly and effectively as the potential claim window is extended. Maintaining accurate and accessible employment records will become even more critical.
It will also give employers more time to resolve potential claims, saving the cost of litigation or the need to respond to claim forms issued out of necessity at the end of a limitation period, whilst attempts to conciliate continue.
Key takeaways
The extension of the maximum early conciliation period to 12 weeks reflects a recognition that six weeks is often inadequate in complex employment disputes involving large employers. For employers and employees alike, the change presents both an opportunity and a challenge. The key will be to act early, stay organised and not treat the extra time as a reason to delay. It remains open for a claimant to advise Acas that they do not wish to conciliate and for Acas to issue the early conciliation certificate straight away, without further recourse to a potentially unsuspecting employer.
