ACAS experience

[Deleted User]

Hello all, I was hoping some of you might have experience with ACAS.
If you have approached them for employment advice re workplace rights, contracts etc. how did you find their service?
Do they provide sound advice? Are they easy to communicate with? Do they get back to you on time? 
thank you

andygb

Can only speak on a personal level. I didn't find them very helpful.

Marcon

Deleted_User said:

Hello all, I was hoping some of you might have experience with ACAS.
If you have approached them for employment advice re workplace rights, contracts etc. how did you find their service?
Do they provide sound advice? Are they easy to communicate with? Do they get back to you on time? 
thank you

ACAS is under massive pressure and has all the same issues as any other outfit operating under COVID conditions, so you need to be realistic in terms of what you expect. You will also find that people's rating of them tends to be influenced by whether or not ACAS told them what they wanted to hear!

If you want prompt, tailored personal advice, book a half hour fixed fee call with an employment solicitor.

robatwork

Acas gave some advice to a colleague and represented him at a meeting. 

Both things were a waste of time.

YMMV.

MalMonroe

I actually DID find Acas very helpful when I contacted them about my Employment Tribunal. (You have to go through them first if you want to take an employer to tribunal anyway). I was allocated my own adviser who told me from the outset that she was not able to take sides in any dispute but she did tell me what I could and could not do and how Acas worked to try to reach mediation before tribunal. She was really good at her job and she DID get back to me quickly, when it was necessary.

It cost me nothing to phone Acas. My advice - why not just make a call? It won't hurt. They may be busy but so what? You are just as important as anyone else who wants to use their service. Depends what your problem is. I found it VERY difficult to find a reasonably priced, knowledgeable solicitor in the field of employment. Nobody seems to want to specialise in it! Marcon has suggested booking a half hour free consultation but half an hour just isn't long enough to discuss complex employment issues.

You may or may not be eligible for legal aid and I found information in this link was very useful - http://www.nationalprobonocentre.org.uk/finding-legal-help/  In the end, I managed to get some free legal help and very valuable advice and support from a solicitor in the legal centre at the university I graduated from a few years ago. BUT that service was not well publicised at all although it is not limited to just students of the uni, it's open to everyone. I think you have to do a bit of googling to find someone who knows what they're doing to help.

Acas, I think, is a great first step. What have you got to lose?

MovingForwards

Only ever contacted them once, about 10 years ago.
I never found them any use, the person didn't have a clue and didn't offer anything for me to work off to assist with the situation I was in at the time.

Savvy_Sue

The person you speak to on the phone probably won't be legally qualified, and will be working their way through a script. You may find looking at their website as useful as speaking to them. 

thebrexitunicorn

robatwork said:

Acas gave some advice to a colleague and represented him at a meeting. 

Both things were a waste of time.

YMMV.

Acas does not represent anyone at meetings or anywhere else.  The organisation is impartial and its employees cannot take sides. 

deannagone

When my ex phoned ACAS what they said about the employment tribunal (how it worked) was wrong, the reality was very different.  His employer refused to speak to ACAS.  Score = Nil points. The clerk of the Employment Tribunal wasn't a great deal of help at all.., or maybe my ex had a difficult Judge. The employers bundle wasn't given to him pre trial, he was given 30 mins to read the very large bundle in a room as a part of the case time.., and wasn't able to represent himself at all as a result of this, he was totally floored.  It was very different to how we'd been told the case would happen.

Thrugelmir

deannagone said:

When my ex phoned ACAS what they said about the employment tribunal (how it worked) was wrong, the reality was very different.  His employer refused to speak to ACAS.  Score = Nil points. The clerk of the Employment Tribunal wasn't a great deal of help at all.., or maybe my ex had a difficult Judge. The employers bundle wasn't given to him pre trial, he was given 30 mins to read the very large bundle in a room as a part of the case time.., and wasn't able to represent himself at all as a result of this, he was totally floored.  It was very different to how we'd been told the case would happen.

Theory is so very very different to the real world. Unless you employ someone with the expertise in any given field you are likely to come up a cropper. The lack of representation was obviously identified and exploited. Everybody learns from experience. As harsh it may seem. 

robatwork

thebrexitunicorn said:

robatwork said:

Acas gave some advice to a colleague and represented him at a meeting. 

Both things were a waste of time.

YMMV.

Acas does not represent anyone at meetings or anywhere else.  The organisation is impartial and its employees cannot take sides. 

It's possible I misremembered then as I thought it was an ACAS rep who was clearly on the "side" both physically and verbally of the employee at the meeting. Perhaps it was a union person even though the company was tiny and employees weren't members of a union.