Workers in the North West seem to be the most militant Britain. Over 24 percent of collective disputes were fought in the Northwest this year with 233 separate rows with unions. This dwarfs the figure for London – a mere 95 disputes.
And, despite its small population, Scotland accounts for 16.8 percent of all collective disputes, according to the annual report from ACAS, the government backed conciliation service. Employers in the Southwest are the least likely to be wrong footed by unions – with just 2.5 percent of all collective disputes happening here. Things are pretty calm in the Southeast too, according to the report.
ACAS, which cost the tax payer nearly £46 million last year, also found that equal pay claims are now nearly 19 times more likely to go to tribunal rather than be settled before they get there.
ACAS, claims to have saved us 76 percent of tribunal hearing days and it solved 42.6 percent of tribunal claims before the hearing last year.
Another 30.7 per cent of cases were withdrawn. Within this figure, more than half of sex discrimination and equal pay tribunal claims are withdrawn before the hearing – without being settled.
Importantly for entrepreneurs, ACAS said in the report that it will roll out its pre claim conciliation (PCC) service nationwide, after a successful pilot in Newcastle, Nottingham and Manchester. PCC is early intervention, where ACAS mediates between two sides which are unable to solve their differences. The aim is to stop the dispute escalating to tribunal claims. The pilot showed the scheme worked well and the biggest beneficiaries were small companies with fewer than 50 staff – many of which are too small to have a human resources department.
Perhaps the message is not to relocate from the Northwest and Scotland to the Southwest – as there are two sides to all disputes. A better idea will be to look out for the PCC service rolling out – and use it fast when conflict arises.
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