In Person For the v A Crabb (Respondent’s Head of HR) — 2024

The claimant presented her ET1 on 20 July 2023. She stated at section 2.3 that she had no early conciliation certificate, while ticking the box indicating that her employer had already been in touch with ACAS. On 28 September 2023, Employment Judge Quill noted that the claim had been accepted on the basis of the claimant's assurance and warned that a later decision might have to be made if there was a dispute about ACAS contact. The respondent's ET3 stated that no contact had been made with ACAS in relation to the claimant's employment.

At the hearing before Employment Judge Anderson on 4 September 2024, the claimant confirmed that she had not contacted ACAS for early conciliation and had taken no action in response to the tribunal's letter or the respondent's response. She said she had no proof that the respondent had contacted ACAS and relied on a conversation with a respondent employee, in which she thought a certificate had been mentioned, or that she may have had an email. The tribunal found that she had not complied with s18A(1) Employment Tribunals Act 1996 and could not show that the respondent had contacted ACAS in accordance with s3(1)(c) of the Employment Tribunal (Early Conciliation: Exemption and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2014.

Because the early conciliation requirement was not met and none of the exemptions in s18A(7) applied, the tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to determine the claim and dismissed it. The judgment does not record any merits findings or any monetary remedy.