The Government has announced changes to the early conciliation and collective redundancy processes, with both coming into effect from 1 December 2025.
Early conciliation
Regulations have been laid before Parliament that will extend the time an employer and employee has to attempt to settle a dispute through Acas before proceeding to the employment tribunal (ET).
The early conciliation period will be extended from the current six weeks to 12 weeks, doubling the amount of time available for Acas to try to help the parties to negotiate a settlement before a claim is made to the ET. Early conciliation “stops the clock” on the time limit for lodging a tribunal claim for one month whilst the conciliator speaks to the parties to explore whether they wish to conciliate.
Prospective claimants are required to notify Acas before they can proceed with most types of claims, although they (and the employer) can decide not to participate in early conciliation if they choose to.
The Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 come into force on 1 December 2025 and will apply when a prospective claimant has presented an early conciliation form to Acas or notified Acas by telephone on or after 1 December 2025.
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Collective redundancies
Changes are also being made to the HR1 form that employers must submit to tell the Government about their collective redundancy proposals.
Employers are required by law to notify the Redundancy Payments Service (RPS), acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if they are proposing to dismiss 20 or more employees as redundant at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less. This is so that the Government can help the employees facing redundancy to find alternative employment or access training opportunities.
From 1 December 2025, employers will only be able to complete the HR1 form digitally (not using a paper version).
Additionally, the following changes have been made to the digital form:
· the requirement to provide detailed breakdowns of affected employees by occupational groups has been removed
· “change in supply chain/loss of supply chain contract” — a new reason for redundancy has been added, giving employers more options when explaining their business case for proposed redundancies
· only consultation dates that have already commenced or will be commencing on the same day will be accepted — employers won't be able to put in future dates.
Importantly, employers will have to fill the digital form in one continuous sitting because the form cannot be saved and returned to later. If the page is closed or left for more than 90 minutes, the form will need to be started again.
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