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Demand for Acas services continues to grow

ADVISORY, CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION SERVICE News Release issued by The Government News Network on 24 July 2007

Today, Acas published its 2006/07 annual report which shows the number of people accessing good practice guidance on the Acas website at an all time high, with 2.7 million visits last year.

The 2006/07 annual report also shows a decrease in the number of claims to employment tribunals with 84,039 cases compared to 109,712 in 2005/06.

Rita Donaghy, Acas Chair said:

'Once again this has been a busy year for Acas. The introduction of the new age discrimination legislation was just one highlight where we delivered our high quality services to help employers and employees with the world of work. Our good practice guidance is available free on our website and we continue to develop new tools to encourage healthy workplaces. Our message is prevention is better than cure.'

Some of the facts and figures from this year's annual report:

* The Acas website received 2.7 million visits. The most frequently viewed pages were the A-Z of work and Rights at Work.

* The Acas helpline answered 839,335 calls. The top three issues were discipline and dismissal, redundancies and lay-offs and contractual matters.

* We delivered 2,707 good practice training sessions.

* There were 84,039 applications to tribunals compared to 109,712 last year. Unfair dismissal continues to be the largest category of complaint with 35,583 claims.

* The number of requests for Acas to intervene in employment disputes and conciliate between the two sides fell slightly with 912 this year compared to 952 in 2005/06. The issue of pay continues to be the single biggest category.

Notes to editors

1. Acas' aim is to improve organisations and working life through better employment relations. It provides information, advice, training and a range of services working with employers and employees to prevent or resolve problems and improve performance. It is an independent statutory body governed by a Council consisting of the Acas Chair and employer, trade union and independent members.

2. The Acas Annual Report and Accounts 2006/07 can be viewed at http://www.acas.org.uk or ordered from Acas Publications on 08702 42 90 90.

Acas National
Brandon House, 180 Borough High Street, London SE1 1LW
http://www.acas.org.uk