As part of its review of the statutory dispute resolution procedures the Government asked for views on their proposed abolition. The consultation ended on 20 June 2007. The Acas council has responded to the proposals (see Acas's response to the government's review of dispute resolution on the Acas website).
The Acas council agrees that the procedures should be repealed. The council also thinks the law on procedural fairness in unfair dismissal cases should be reviewed. Under the current law, subject to the need to follow the statutory procedures, if an employer doesn’t follow its own or a generally fair procedure, but it can show that it would have dismissed anyway, then the dismissal can be fair.
Three options were suggested in the government’s review:
• Revert to the position pre-statutory procedures and the Polkey principle that a dismissal will normally be unfair if a proper procedure is not followed (although compensation can be adjusted).
• Repeal the statutory procedures but provide for tribunals to be able to make findings on procedural and substantive fairness.
• Repeal the statutory procedures but keep the current position on general fairness so a dismissal could be fair when a proper procedure is not followed if following a fair procedure would not have made a difference.
The government expressed a preference for the second option.
The Acas council found pros and cons for each option but did not wish to state a preference for any of them which is surprising given the importance of the its code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures in establishing overall fairness.
The council also proposes an active role for Acas in implementing any changes.
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