Statistical bulletin

Acas helpline data: January to March 2025

Published

1. Introduction and main points

This quarterly statistical bulletin uses the Acas helpline data capture system (DCS) data to highlight trends seen within the Acas helpline service. The latest data in this bulletin was collected in January to March 2025 (quarter 4 2024 to 2025). 

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

Main points:

  • the helpline service handled around 165,100 calls this quarter, around a 4% increase on the previous quarter – this continues a quarter-on-quarter increase in the volume of calls across the financial year 
  • around 86% of calls handled were employee-side calls, while around 10% were employer-side calls 
  • the most common call topic this quarter was discipline, dismissal and grievance, with around 40% of calls related to this topic 
  • calls related to discipline, dismissal and grievance, redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers, and diversity and discrimination are more common than in January to March 2024 
  • calls related to holiday and working time are less common than in January to March 2024 
  • the most common call subtopics this quarter were grievance procedure (16%), dismissal (15%), and redundancy procedure (10%) 
  • Grievance procedure and dismissal have remained the two most common subtopics over the past year
  • calls related to grievance procedure and disability discrimination have risen over the past year 

  • employees 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, maternity, paternity and adoption, and redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers

2. Who is calling the helpline?

Call volumes

The helpline handled around 165,100 calls in January to March 2025. This is roughly a 4% increase on the previous quarter and roughly a 22% increase on January to March 2024. Values in Figure 1 have been rounded to 4 significant figures.

Figure 1: Helpline call volumes in the 5 latest quarters.
Bar chart showing quarterly call volumes to the helpline between January 2024 and March 2025. Full data in the following table.
Table of data: Helpline call volumes in the 5 latest quarters
Quarter Call volume
January to March 2024 135,800
April to June 2024 130,100
July to September 2024 144,800
October to December 2024 158,700
January to March 2025 165,100

Employee-side calls include calls from employees, third parties on behalf of employees, agency workers, apprentices, and interns whereas employer-side calls include calls from employers and third parties on behalf of employers. 

Of the calls handled this quarter, 86% were employee-side calls and 10% were employer-side calls. This is similar to the previous quarter, where 85% of calls were employee-side and 10% of calls were employer-side. In quarter 4 last year, 85% of calls were employee-side, while 11% of calls were employer-side.

Figure 2: Helpline caller types
Bar chart showing the majority of callers across different quarters were employees rather than employers. Full data in following table.

The legend order reflects the order of the categories across the bars.

Table of data: Helpline caller types
Type of caller January to March 2024  October to December 2024 January to March 2025
Employee-side 85% 85% 86%
Employer-side 11% 10% 10%
Other 2% 2% 2%
Unknown 2% 3% 2%

3. What are people calling about?

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:

  1. Discipline, dismissal and grievance (40% of data capture system records).
  2. Contracts (17%).
  3. Redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers (14%).
Figure 3: Helpline call topics in January to March 2025 
Bar chart showing the percentage of helpline calls assigned different topics between January to March 2025. Discipline, dismissal and grievance were the most common. Full data in the following table.

Data capture system records can be assigned up to 5 call topics, therefore percentages may not add up to 100%.

Table of data: Helpline call topics in January to March 2025
Call topic Percentage of helpline calls
Discipline, dismissal and grievance 39.9%
Contracts 16.9%
Redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers 14.1%
Diversity and discrimination 13.6%
Wages and National Minimum or Living Wage 11.6%
Others 10.6%
Absences, sickness and stress 10.3%
Holiday and working time 6.1%
Maternity, paternity and adoption  3.3%
Hot topics 0.1%

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.

Table 1: Changes in the percentage of helpline calls with each call topic
Call topics Percentage of helpline calls in January to March 2025 Percentage point change versus October to December 2024 Percentage point change versus January to March 2024
Discipline, dismissal and grievance 39.9% 0.6 0.9
Contracts 16.9% 0.7 0.3
Redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers 14.1% 1.4 1.3
Diversity and discrimination  13.6% 0.9 1.6
Wages and National Minimum or Living Wage 11.6% -1.0 -0.6
Others  10.6% -0.2 0.6
Absences, sickness and stress 10.3% 0.0 0.0
Holiday and working time 6.1% -0.1% -0.9
Maternity, paternity and adoption 3.3% 0.4 0.2
Hot topics 0.1% 0.0 -0.1

Change from period to period tends to be very small though year on year changes can be more significant and highlight emerging issues. However, the percentage of calls about each call topic have remained stable over the last 12 months, which suggests the issues that have been affecting employees and employers over the last year have not changed much.

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%.

Figure 4: 10 most common helpline subtopics for January to March 2025 
Bar chart showing the percentage helpline subtopics assigned for January to March 2025. Grievance procedure and dismissal were the most common. Full data in the following table.
Table of data: 10 most common helpline subtopics for January to March 2025
Call subtopic Percentage of helpline calls
Grievance procedure  16.3%
Dismissal 14.9%
Redundancy procedure 10.3%
Discipline procedure 9.8%
Non-payment or deduction of wage 9.2%
Disability 8.4%
Absence  7.4%
Other (others)  6.4%
Variation 5.0%
Holiday entitlement 4.8%
Figure 5: 10 most common helpline subtopics for October to December 2024
Bar chart showing the percentage helpline subtopics assigned for October to December 2024. Grievance procedure and dismissal were the most common. Full data in the following table.
Table of data: 10 most common helpline subtopics for October to December 2024
Call subtopic Percentage of helpline calls
Grievance procedure 16.1%
Dismissal  14.3%
Non-payment or deduction of wage 10.3%
Discipline procedure  10.2%
Redundancy procedure 9.1%
Disability  7.8%
Absence 7.2%
Other (others)

6.8%

Holiday entitlement 4.8%
Notice period or pay 4.6%
Figure 6: 10 most common helpline subtopics for January to March 2024 
Bar chart showing the percentage helpline subtopics assigned for January to March 2024. Grievance procedure and dismissal were the most common. Full data in the following table.
Table of data: 10 most common helpline subtopics for January to March 2024
Call subtopic Percentage of helpline calls
Grievance procedure 15.4%
Dismissal  14.5%
Non-payment or deduction of wage 10.0%
Discipline procedure 9.7%
Redundancy procedure  9.0%
Absence  7.5%
Disability 7.5%
Other (others) 6.3%
Holiday entitlement 5.5%
Variation 5.0%

4. What differences are there between employees and employers?

Employees and employers may call the Acas helpline for differing reasons. The figures below show the most common call topics and subtopics when employees call the helpline, compared with when employers call the helpline.

Figure 7: Helpline call topics by caller type for January to March 2025 
Bar chart showing a comparison of call topics for employees and employers. Discipline, dismissal and grievance were the most common for both. Full data in the following table.

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.

Table of data: Helpline call topics by caller type for January to March 2025
Topics Employee-side Employer-side
Discipline, dismissal and grievance  42.9% 28.8%
Contracts 17.2% 18.9%
Diversity and discrimination 15.0% 6.7%
Redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers 14.4% 16.5%
Wages and National Minimum or Living Wage 12.6%

5.8%

Absences, sickness and stress 10.2% 15.5%
Others 9.9% 10.4%
Holiday and working time 5.8% 10.8%
Maternity, paternity and adoption 3.0% 6.8%
Hot topics 0.1% 0.1%

Figure 7 shows that in this quarter employees were more 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 more likely to call the helpline with queries relating to absences, sickness and stress, contracts, holiday and working time, maternity, paternity and adoption, and redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers.

Figures 8 and 9 highlight how dismissal, redundancy procedure, and discipline procedure were amongst the common subtopics for both employees and employers in January to March 2025.

Figure 8: Most common helpline subtopics for employees in January to March 2025
Bar chart showing the most common helpline call subtopics for employees. Full data in the following table.

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

Table of data: Most common helpline subtopics for employees in January to March 2025
Subtopic Percentage of helpline calls
Grievance procedure 18.3%
Dismissal 15.6%
Redundancy procedure 10.7%
Non-payment or deduction of wage 10.2%
Discipline procedure 9.9%
Figure 9: Most common helpline subtopics for employers in January to March 2025
Bar chart showing the most common helpline call subtopics for employers. Full data in the following table.

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

Table of data: Most common helpline subtopics for employers in January to March 2025
Subtopic Percentage of helpline calls
Dismissal  13.5%
Discipline procedure  12.8%
Absence 11.1%
Redundancy procedure 11.0%
Holiday entitlement 8.8%

5. Glossary

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.

Employee-side calls

Calls answered by the helpline that were made by those who were employees, third parties on behalf of employees, agency workers, apprentices, and interns.

Employer-side calls

Calls answered by the helpline that were made by those who were employers, managers or third parties on behalf of employers and managers.

Call topics

High level subjects discussed during a call. Call topics are manually assigned to a call by advisers using the data capture system and each call can have up to 5 call topics assigned.

Call subtopics

More specific subjects discussed during a call. Each call topic has a number of associated subtopics advisers can assign to a call and 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.

6. Quality

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 were created