The ACAS uplift at Employment Tribunal: what you need to know
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So what is the ACAS uplift, and why does it matter if you're going to tribunal or trying to settle with your employer in the UK?
So ACAS is a government funded organization, and their whole purpose is to help resolve issues between employees and employers so that they don't go to Tribunal, and another thing that they do is publish a Code of Practice for disciplinary processes and grievance processes, and that's what your employer should follow.
But you can't take your employer to Tribunal just because they violated the code of practice. There has to be some other reason on top of that, like unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing, etc.
So how do they enforce the code of practice?
This is what they use the ACAS uplift and decrease for in tribunal awards. The Tribunal can increase an award by up to 25% if the employer didn't follow it, or decrease it by up to 25% if an employee didn't follow it.
So think about that when you're settling, especially if the employer didn't follow the grievance processes.
Curious about the ACAS uplift and when a Tribunal would award it? You’ll find everything you need to know in this guide.
What is the ACAS uplift?
The ACAS uplift is an increase of up to 25% to a claimant’s compensation.
The uplift may be awarded when an Employment Tribunal finds that the employer failed to follow the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.
To enforce the Code of Practice, the Tribunal applies an uplift of up to 25% to the compensation when the employer unreasonably fails to follow the rules.
When a claimant fails to follow the rules, the Tribunal can decrease their compensation by up to 25%.
How is the ACAS uplift calculated?
Once a Tribunal decides an ACAS uplift is appropriate, it then has to determine the appropriate percentage increase to award, up to a maximum of 25%.
To do this, the Tribunal considers the following factors:
- The extent of the employer's failure to follow the Code of Practice
- The extent to which the failure was unreasonable
- Any mitigating circumstances (e.g. the employer failed to follow appeal procedures correctly but otherwise conducted a generally fair process)
Once the Tribunal has decided how much uplift to award, the percentage increase is applied to the total compensatory award after any deductions have been made. For example, if an initial compensatory award of £10,000 is reduced by £3,000 (e.g. for contributory fault), the ACAS uplift is applied to the remaining £7,000.
The ACAS uplift is not usually applied to basic award compensation for unfair dismissal.
Examples of the ACAS uplift in real cases
Here are some real examples of cases where the Tribunal has awarded an ACAS uplift.
The claimant had been put through a disciplinary process but was not given a full opportunity to set out his case or answer the allegations that had been made against him.
The Tribunal awarded the claimant an ACAS uplift of 15%.
The claimant’s employer did not conduct his disciplinary process fairly:
- There was no proper investigation
- The employer failed to provide the claimant with sufficient information of the case against him
- Both the investigation and the disciplinary hearing were conducted by the complainant
The claimant was awarded an ACAS uplift of 20%.
The claimant was unfairly dismissed shortly after her employment had been transferred to a new employer. She subsequently raised a grievance against the new employer, who failed to respond to the grievance.
The Tribunal awarded the claimant an ACAS uplift of 15%.
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