Employment tribunal applications continue to fall

The
number of applications reaching employment tribunal has decreased for the third
consecutive year, according to figures in the Acas annual report, published
today.

Total
applications handled by Acas have fallen since 2001 from 104,000 to 94,000 – a
drop of almost 10 per cent. At the same time, numbers withdrawn or settled
before reaching the tribunal stage have increased, with 77 per cent going no
further than the Acas stage, compared to 75 per cent last year.

Rita
Donaghy, Acas chair, believes Acas has had a big part to play in this trend.

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She
said: “Our good practice guidance helps employers avoid falling foul of
employment law and by having the right sort of discipline and grievance
procedures in place, organisations can ensure that problems are dealt with
promptly before getting to the stage of an employee putting in an application
to a tribunal.”

By Ben Willmott