Preparing information - Early conciliation: getting an agreement

Preparing information

It can help to prepare information about your case for early conciliation.

Write a summary of your dispute

Write your dispute as a list of events, keeping it brief.

It's useful to include:

  • dates of important incidents
  • how much money you're owed, if it's about pay
  • how long you've worked for your employer
  • any reasons your employer gave for their action or decision
  • what you've done already to try and resolve the dispute

Here are some examples.

Example 1: not being paid

  • Owed my normal wages
  • Should have been paid on 31 January
  • Owed £300
  • Employer has not given a reason for not paying
  • Tried to resolve it by speaking to line manager
  • Line manager told me to speak to payroll – keep being told to speak to different people but no-one can help me

Example 2: being dismissed

  • Worked for employer for 3 years
  • Got dismissed on 4 June
  • Employer's reason for dismissal was redundancy
  • Feel it was unfair as wasn't given proper consultation and employer has now advertised my job online
  • Appealed my redundancy but it was rejected

Example 3: being discriminated against

  • Feel I've been discriminated against because of my disability
  • Have diabetes
  • Employer would not make reasonable adjustment to let me start work later to allow for low blood sugar in the morning
  • Most recent incident was on 23 May – manager shouted at me for being late in front of colleagues
  • Have raised grievance, waiting for final decision

Get supporting documents

It will help your case to gather supporting documents that relate to your dispute, for example:

  • payslips (if the dispute is about pay)
  • timesheets
  • name and contact details of who we need to speak to at your work
  • the grievance or appeal letter you sent to your employer
  • the email or letter showing the decision or result from your employer
  • any other emails or letters relating to the dispute
  • a log or diary of events (if you've kept one)

Your conciliator will ask for these when they need them.

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