exitagreementAcas early conciliation: how it works and what it does to the clock
Before most employment tribunal claims you have to tell Acas first. That step, early conciliation, is free, it can last up to 12 weeks, and it pauses the tribunal time limit while it runs. It can also end the dispute: an agreement reached through Acas is binding as soon as both sides agree to it.
What early conciliation is
The requirement is in the Employment Tribunals Act 1996. Before bringing most claims, you must give Acas basic information about the dispute, and a conciliator then tries to help both sides settle it:
Before a person (“the prospective claimant”) presents an application to institute relevant proceedings relating to any matter, the prospective claimant must provide to ACAS prescribed information, in the prescribed manner, about that matter … The conciliation officer shall, during the prescribed period, endeavour to promote a settlement between the persons who would be parties to the proceedings.Read the section on legislation.gov.uk
Notifying Acas is a condition of claiming, not a commitment to anything. Acas describes the process itself as voluntary: your employer can decline to take part, and so can you. Either way you come out of it with what you need to claim — a certificate with a number on it, which goes on the tribunal claim form, ET1.
Who does not need to
The Early Conciliation Regulations list a few exemptions — for example where someone else has already notified Acas about the same dispute and you are joining their claim, or where the employer contacted Acas first and you have not, or certain claims for interim relief. For an ordinary unfair dismissal, discrimination or wages claim, assume you must notify Acas first.
Key points
- Notify Acas before you claim, and inside the tribunal time limit.
- It lasts up to 12 weeks from when Acas receives the notification — doubled from six on 1 December 2025.
- The clock stops while it runs, and you get at least a month after the certificate.
- A COT3 binds you once agreed, even before it is signed.
- Conciliators are neutral. They will not tell you whether an offer is good enough.
How long early conciliation lasts
For up to 12 weeks starting on the date— (a) of receipt by ACAS of the early conciliation form presented in accordance with rule 2; or (b) the prospective claimant telephoned ACAS in accordance with rule 3, the conciliation officer must endeavour to promote a settlement between the prospective claimant and the prospective respondent.Read the section on legislation.gov.uk
The 12-week figure is recent. The rules allowed six weeks from December 2020; SI 2025/1153 substituted twelve for notifications from 1 December 2025. Older guidance that still says six weeks predates that change. Twelve weeks is a maximum, not a fixed term:
(1) If at any point during the period for early conciliation … the conciliation officer concludes that a settlement of a dispute, or part of it, is not possible, ACAS must issue an early conciliation certificate. (2) If the period for early conciliation … expires without a settlement having been reached, ACAS must issue an early conciliation certificate.Read the section on legislation.gov.uk
So conciliation ends with a certificate in one of three ways: the conciliator concludes that settlement is not possible, the period runs out, or — Acas says — you do not respond, in which case it sends the certificate anyway.
What it does to the tribunal time limit
This is the part that matters most. Conciliation does not just add the weeks it took; section 207B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 does two separate things:
(3) In working out when a time limit set by a relevant provision expires the period beginning with the day after Day A and ending with Day B is not to be counted. (4) If a time limit set by a relevant provision would (if not extended by this subsection) expire during the period beginning with Day A and ending one month after Day B, the time limit expires instead at the end of that period.Read the section on legislation.gov.uk
In the section’s terms, Day A is the day you notify Acas and Day B is the day you receive the certificate. Subsection (3) stops the clock between them. Subsection (4) then guarantees at least a month after the certificate if the limit would otherwise run out in that window. Two worked examples, for an effective date of termination of 1 November 2026 and the six-month limit that now applies:
| Notified early | Notified late | |
|---|---|---|
| Limit before conciliation | 30 April 2027 | 30 April 2027 |
| Day A — Acas notified | 10 January 2027 | 25 April 2027 |
| Day B — certificate received | 4 April 2027 (the full 12 weeks) | 2 May 2027 |
| Rule that decides it | s.207B(3): 84 days added | s.207B(4): one month after Day B |
| Last day to claim | 23 July 2027 | 2 June 2027 |
ERA 1996 s.207B(3)–(4); limit counted as Acas does (add the months, take off one day). Illustrative dates. A tribunal decides whether a claim is in time; check your own dates with an adviser.
Two warnings follow from the wording. The extension only works if you notify Acas inside the original limit — Day A has to come first. And Acas says plainly that working out the exact limit can be complicated, that it is your responsibility, and that its conciliators cannot decide or advise on it. The time limits themselves.
Notified Acas, or about to?
Send your postcode and the date your employment ended or will end. We pass an enquiry to a firm only with your agreement, and only to a firm entitled to receive it.
What a conciliator will and will not do
Acas conciliators are impartial. They can explain the process, discuss the issues with both sides, give an overview of the relevant law and explore how the dispute could be resolved. According to Acas, they cannot:
- represent either side
- tell you whether to agree on a settlement
- say how strong or weak your case is
- help you prepare your case for tribunal
- make a judgement on how your case could turn out
That list is the reason to take independent advice alongside conciliation: the conciliator will carry offers back and forth, but will not tell you whether the figure is a good one. The statutory parts of any figure can be checked: redundancy pay · notice · what a tribunal could award.
COT3: settling through Acas
If the two sides agree terms, Acas records them in a conciliation agreement known as a COT3. Acas’s own description carries a warning worth reading twice:
Once you and the respondent reach an agreement, we’ll write up what you agree in a conciliation agreement (COT3). This is a legally binding agreement. It’s important that it’s right for you. Once you and the respondent agree to it, you’ll have to keep to it – even if you have not signed it yet.Read it on acas.org.uk
So do not say yes on the phone to anything you have not thought through. A COT3 also differs from a settlement agreement in one important way: because a conciliation officer has acted, the statute does not require you to take independent legal advice before it binds you.
Subsection (1) … does not apply to any agreement to refrain from instituting or continuing proceedings where a conciliation officer has taken action under any of sections 18A to 18C of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996.Read the section on legislation.gov.uk
That makes a COT3 quicker, and it removes a safeguard. A settlement agreement cannot bind you until an independent adviser has explained it to you; a COT3 can. If an employer offers you a choice between the two, or a settlement agreement arrives while conciliation is running, the difference is worth weighing. Settlement agreement, COT3 and severance compared.
If the money does not arrive
Acas cannot force an employer to pay, but it points to two routes: the government’s free penalty enforcement scheme, which can be used for a COT3 as well as a tribunal award, and enforcement through the courts. Keep your own copy of the COT3 — Acas says it does not keep one for longer than 9 months. When settlement money is late.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has its own early conciliation scheme, run by the Labour Relations Agency rather than Acas, with different rules. Northern Ireland.
Common questions
What is Acas early conciliation?
A free service in which an Acas conciliator tries to help you and your employer settle a dispute before a tribunal claim. For most claims you must notify Acas before you can bring a claim (Employment Tribunals Act 1996, s.18A). If it does not settle, Acas issues a certificate whose number goes on the claim form.
How long does early conciliation last?
Up to 12 weeks from the date Acas receives your notification, under rule 6 of the Early Conciliation Rules of Procedure as amended from 1 December 2025. It can end sooner: Acas must issue the certificate as soon as the conciliator concludes a settlement is not possible.
Does early conciliation stop the tribunal time limit?
It pauses it. Under section 207B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 the days from the day after you notify Acas until the day you receive the certificate do not count, and if the limit would otherwise expire within a month of the certificate you have until a month after it. You must notify Acas inside the original limit.
Is a COT3 the same as a settlement agreement?
Both settle claims, but a COT3 is made through an Acas conciliator and does not need the independent legal advice a settlement agreement needs (Employment Rights Act 1996, s.203(2)(e)). Acas says it is binding once both sides agree to it, even before it is signed.
Does my employer have to take part?
No. Acas says early conciliation is voluntary. If the employer declines, Acas issues the certificate and you can go on to make a claim.
Can an Acas conciliator tell me whether to accept an offer?
No. Acas says conciliators cannot tell you whether to agree a settlement, say how strong your case is, or represent either side. For that you need independent advice.
What if my employer does not pay what was agreed in the COT3?
Acas points to the government's free penalty enforcement scheme, which can be used for a COT3, and to court enforcement. Keep your copy: Acas says it does not keep one for longer than nine months.
Sources cited on this page
- Employment Tribunals Act 1996, s.18A — requirement to contact Acas
- Early Conciliation Rules of Procedure (SI 2014/254, Schedule)
- Employment Rights Act 1996, s.207B — extension of time limits for conciliation
- Employment Rights Act 1996, s.203(2)(e) — conciliated agreements
- Acas — How early conciliation works
- Acas — Getting paid as part of an Acas settlement
Every figure above was read from the source it is attributed to on 19 September 2026. How we check this.
Send an enquiry
Six quick questions. Your details are the last step, never the first.
Your enquiry is ready to send
Here is what happens after you submit:
- Your answers come to exitagreement.co.uk. Nothing is sent to a firm automatically.
- We pass an enquiry to a firm only with your agreement, and only to a firm entitled to receive it. If no firm can take it, it goes nowhere else, no firm will contact you because of it, and you can ask us to delete it.
- You are committed to nothing.
We are not a law firm. Sending this does not create a solicitor–client relationship.