From 1 December 2025, changes to the ACAS Early Conciliation period will apply to cases notified to ACAS on or after that date. Under the Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, the maximum conciliation period will be extended from the current six weeks to twelve weeks. Claims already in progress before this date will continue to follow the existing six-week rule.
Before most Employment Tribunal claims can be issued, potential claimants must begin ACAS Early Conciliation. You must notify ACAS and complete this process before issuing a claim. Its purpose is to give the parties an opportunity to resolve their differences without formal litigation. Once appointed, the ACAS conciliator will contact both parties to explore settlement options and help them reach an agreement. Starting Early Conciliation pauses the statutory time limit for bringing a claim while the process is underway.
Why the change?
Acas conciliators are heavily overworked. Clients have come to us after being told it will take four weeks for the conciliator to make contact. This leaves less than two weeks for conciliation within the current six-week window, and in some cases, conciliators have been unable to make any contact at all.
The government’s aim is to ease pressure on ACAS and give parties greater opportunity to resolve workplace conflicts before they eventually reach the formal litigation stage.
The Acas annual report for 2024/25 stated that the service dealt with more than 117,000 early conciliation cases, the highest number since the Covid pandemic and 13,000 cases up on the previous year. Around 38% of early conciliation notifications resulted in a settlement between parties or another positive outcome.
Law Society Gazette
Extending the Early Conciliation period to twelve weeks should allow more time to resolve conflicts – especially complex cases, with the hope that this will reduce the likelihood of litigation and help to clear the existing Employment Tribunal backlog.
The Government has confirmed that it will review the change in October 2026 to decide whether the twelve-week period should remain in effect.
Potential impacts
The extension of the conciliation period, and the overall time limit for issuing a claim, along with the current ongoing delays at ACAS and with the Employment Tribunal system, means that employers will have to wait even longer to see whether an Employment Tribunal claim has been started against them.
For employees, the extended timeframe will offer greater scope to resolve disputes through ACAS before deciding whether to escalate to a formal claim. It will allow employees additional time to assess their case and seek advice.
Are there further changes?
Under the Employment Rights Bill, from October 2026, the limitation period for most tribunal claims will be extended from three to six months. This, combined with the extended ACAS conciliation period, means that in some cases, employees will have over nine months before a claim must be submitted.
Philip McCabe
28 November 2025