Acas.org.ukReviews 4

I have had positive dealings with ACAS in the past but this time it is a very different story. They were notified about a case nearly 5 weeks ago & I have still not been allocated to anyone. There own advice & policy states the EC period lasts for 6 weeks at which point a EC certificate is automatically issued. There is no point in the early conciliation period if they have not made contact with the person or the business within that 6 week period & the details are sat languishing in their system with no progress at all. If they make contact with me in the next week, that leaves 1 or 2 days for me to discuss this with them, them to approach the business, the business to offer a response & my thoughts on that response. There is no way on the planet that is going to happen in 1 0r 2 days. Having called them on the "Helpline2 last week, which was no help at all, I was told " We can't possibly discuss your case" Having called the EC team yesterday and waited ten minutes listening to every dross & boring automated message they had to read out, I was then advised by a machine " we are too buy to put your call through to anyone, bye" I have raised a formal complaint with a 10 day turn around time, which again takes me past the 6 week period of EC & I have emailed them twice about the delays, both of which remain totally ignored The early conciliation process is grossly & gravely failing & is not fit for purpose. I will be automatically issued my EC certificates, before they even allocate the case to a conciliator. Ridiculous.

Total waste of time. I went through the conciliation process with an adviser called Melissa regarding a legal dispute with an ex employer that overpaid me and wanted me to repay all of the overpayments including additional tax that I'd been charged as a result of receiving two salaries per month. She sent an e mail to the employer who refused to negotiate on any terms and abandoned me thereafter. I chased her several times only to be told the conciliation process had been closed due to the employers refusal to discuss any kind of compromise. I was promptly taken to court thereafter. What a complete waste of time.

I rang for advice.
The person I spoke to asked me to explain what had happened, then instead of letting me explain she literally interrupted after every sentence in an overbearing, impatient and rude way. She insisted on sending me a guide to grievance procedures, but had she listened instead of talked at me all the time she would have known I have already exhausted grievance process.
A pointless and useless service - no wonder employers get away with abusing the law when this is the only place the abused can turn to for help!
ACAS make false assurances that you can remain confidential. I wrote an identical review on another review site and ACAS are demanding my personal data or removal of the review. After my recent experience with them I have no desire to have any further contact and certainly wouldn't trust them with my personal data.