Acas Early Conciliation form

[ImStillMe]

Mindul of deadlines, can I do the above form myself and then instruct a solicitor to represent me?

Or is the form complex and best completed by a solicitor?

Hey, sorry nobody has come back to you- I am actually in the process of my own tribunal claim so will try help with any other queries you have!

The ACAS form is very easy and you should fill it out yourself, I did this even when fully represented to save costs; the only thing to remember is if its a discrimination claim and you want to add individuals to the claim you must do it on the ACAS form too otherwise you can't lodge a ET claim against them later.

Thanks @LeedsGirl94 . I will need legal advice on whether to name the employer or individuals.

Thinking ahead, the date by which an ET claim must be lodged if conciliation is unsuccessful is confusing me...can you explain it in simple terms?

With naming people: in my claim I wanted to name two individuals who had personally discriminated heavily against me but missed them off the ACAS notification, later down the line we had the opportunity to add them but my solicitor said in practise the employer would just pay any awards against them on their behalf so it makes no difference to them but I would have liked to have done it to make them squirm a bit!

The date to lodge a claim is 3 months less one day from the date of the last act, the clock stops for the duration of conciliation which is usually 4 weeks but can be extended to six weeks based on mutual agreement. If conciliation ends early the clock resumes from that moment, I have read that you would usually have a minimum of one month to file your claim but I don't know how reliable that is so for safety stick with 3 months less one day + the period of conciliation.

Put simply if your claim is unfair dismissal and you were dismissed on Feb 21, your claim would need to be lodged by May 20 + whatever length of time conciliation lasted for. Feel free to PM me if you want any more help or advice!

Thanks so much @leedsgirl94 for your prompt response.

I may be in touch as things progress.

In the meantime, good luck with your case.

Thanks a lot, good luck with yours too!