Acas helpline data: July to September 2025

This quarterly statistical bulletin uses the Acas helpline data capture system (DCS) to highlight trends seen within the Acas helpline service. The latest data in this bulletin was collected in July to September 2025 (quarter 2 2025 to 2026).

All values in this bulletin are rounded to zero decimal places unless specified otherwise.

• the helpline service handled around 148,000 calls this quarter, a similar proportion to the previous quarter
• around 87% of calls handled were from workers, while around 8% were calls from employers
• the most common call topic this quarter was discipline, dismissal and grievance, with around 41% of calls related to this topic
• the most common call subtopics this quarter were grievance procedure (17%), dismissal (15%), and discipline procedure (10%)
• workers were most likely to call the helpline with queries relating to discipline, dismissal and grievance, diversity and discrimination, and wages and National Minimum or Living Wage
• employers were most likely to call the helpline with queries relating to absences, sickness and stress, contracts, holiday and working time, and maternity, paternity and adoption
• the proportion of calls related to discipline, dismissal and grievance has increased by 2.6% over the past year
• the proportion of calls related to diversity and discrimination has increased by 1.7% over the past year

Call volumes

The helpline handled around 148,000 calls in July to September 2025. This is roughly a 0% decrease on the previous quarter and roughly a 2% increase on July to September 2024. Values in Figure 1 have been rounded to 4 significant figures.

Caller types

Calls from workers include calls from:

• employees
• third parties on behalf of employees
• agency workers
• apprentices
• interns

Calls from employers include calls from:

• employers
• third parties on behalf of employers

Of the calls handled this quarter, 87% were from workers and 8% were from employers. This is similar to the previous quarter, where 87% of calls were from workers and 9% of calls were from employers. In quarter 2 last year, 85% of calls were from workers, while 11% of calls were from employers.

Call topics

Each data capture system record is assigned up to 5 call topics. These are assigned manually by the adviser and based on the subjects discussed during a call. The most common call topics in this period were:

• Discipline, dismissal and grievance (41% of data capture system records)
• Contracts (16%)
• Diversity and discrimination (14%)

Table 1 highlights the change in the percentage of data capture system records with each call topic. These are compared with the previous quarter and the same quarter in the previous year. A positive change means that a particular call topic was more common in the most recent quarter.

Change from period to period tends to be very small. The proportion of calls on discipline, dismissal and grievance has increased by more than 2%, when compared to quarter 2 of 2024 to 2025. This has become a more common topic since this time last year.

Call subtopics

Each call topic also has a number of subtopics. Up to 10 subtopics can be selected in each data capture system record. 

Figure 4 shows the most common subtopics this quarter. Figure 5 shows the most common subtopics last quarter. Figure 6 shows the most common subtopics in the equivalent quarter last year.

Data capture system records can be assigned up to 10 call subtopics, therefore percentages may not add up to 100%.

Workers and employers may call the Acas helpline for differing reasons. The following figures show the most common call topics and subtopics when workers call the helpline, compared with when employers call the helpline.

Data capture system records can be assigned up to 5 call topics, therefore percentages may not add up to 100%. The legend order reflects the order of the categories across the bars.

Figure 7 shows that in this quarter workers were more likely to call the helpline with queries relating to:  

• discipline, dismissal and grievance  
• diversity and discrimination  
• wages and National Minimum or Living Wage  

Employers were more likely to call the helpline with queries relating to:

• absences  
• sickness and stress  
• contracts  
• holiday and working time  
• maternity
• paternity and adoption

Figures 8 and 9 highlight how dismissal, and redundancy procedure were amongst the common subtopics for both workers and employers in July to September 2025.

Data capture system records can be assigned up to 10 call subtopics, therefore percentages may not add up to 100%. 

Call volume

The number of inbound calls answered by helpline advisers within a specified time period.

Data capture system

The helpline data capture system (DCS) is used by helpline advisers to capture information on a call such as:

• time and date of the call
• certain characteristics of a caller
• the subjects discussed during a call
• any follow-up actions from the call

Around 95% of helpline calls have associated data capture system records.

Calls from workers

Calls answered by the helpline from employees, third parties on behalf of employees, agency workers, apprentices, and interns.

Calls from employers

Calls answered by the helpline from employers, managers or third parties on behalf of employers and managers.

Call topics

High level subjects discussed during a call. Advisers manually assign call topics to a call using the data capture system. Each call can have up to 5 call topics assigned.

Call sub-topics

More specific subjects discussed during a call. Each call topic has a number of associated subtopics advisers can assign to a call. Each call can be assigned up to 10 call subtopics. A list of call topics and associated subtopics can be found in the background quality report for this data.

You can find more information in the background quality report on:

• strengths in the data
• limitations of the data
• appropriate uses of the data
• how the data was created

• Acas helpline evaluation reports