Acas in demand

The services of workplace expert Acas continue to be in demand, according to it latest annual report.

In 2013-14, Acas conciliated to prevent or resolve disputes between groups of workers and their employer with over 850 national and regional disputes in a wide range of sectors, including the motor manufacturing, air transport, postal service and education.

Disputes included high profiles ones, such as at Royal Mail and the London Underground. This area of Acas' work brings a very significant benefit to economy, assessed as £76 for every £1 spent. The main dispute topic was pay (52%).

There were 40,938 employment tribunal cases referred to Acas for conciliation in 2013-14 and unfair dismissal continued to be the largest category of complaint with 24,306 cases or 59.4% of cases. Around a third of cases involved breach of contract (34.5%) or claims under the Wages Act (33.6%).

The Acas helpline answered around 900,000 calls. The top three topic categories were discipline, dismissal and grievances; redundancies and lay-offs; and contractual matters.

A new telephone number for the helpline was launched in March — 0300 123 1100 — with the aim of reducing the costs for many callers who use mobile phones.

www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4884