Employment Appeal Tribunal

New early conciliation not required before amending ET claim

The EAT has held that it is not necessary for a claimant to go through the early conciliation process (EC) again in respect of a new claim arising after EC has concluded and an ET1 presented to the tribunal. Parliament intentionally drafted the legislation to refer to “prospective claimants”, rather than existing claimants, having an obligation to commence EC in respect of “a matter”, not each “cause of action” or “claim”. Further, the only requirement is for a prospective claimant to provide details of the parties’ names and addresses to Acas; not details of the potential claims.

In the EAT’s view, it is appropriate for a claimant in this situation to apply to amend their ET1 to include the further claim. Whether to allow the application to amend will be a matter of judicial discretion in the usual way. (Science Warehouse Ltd v Mills UKEAT/0224/15.)

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