Marina Glasgow has been announced as the first woman to take up the role of Chief Conciliator at Acas.
The Chief Conciliator leads the team that helps unions and employers resolve their workplace disputes through Acas's free, impartial and trusted collective conciliation service.
An experienced mediator and conciliator, Marina previously held the position of Deputy Chief Conciliator and has worked at Acas since 2001.
Acas Chief Executive, Susan Clews, said:
"Marina has been covering the role of Chief Conciliator during a busy time at Acas and I am pleased to now confirm her appointment as the first woman in this important role.
"Her wealth of experience in mediating some very challenging and high-profile disputes across a range of sectors will be invaluable in leading Acas's collective conciliation service.
"Acas has decades of experience in resolving conflict and Marina and her team of experts are well prepared and ready to help with the many disputes dominating the headlines now."
Acas Chief Conciliator, Marina Glasgow, said:
"I am honoured to be the first woman Chief Conciliator in Acas's history, and I look forward to leading our team of experts that work hard to find resolutions to over 500 disputes every year.
"Our conciliation service is very successful at resolving disputes and recent research shows that the working public want to see employers and unions in conflict to use Acas to help find solutions."
Acas commissioned YouGov to ask employers and employees whether they thought the various sides in dispute taking strike action should seek mediation from Acas. 76% of employers and 71% of employees said that they should use Acas to resolve the situation.
In 2021 to 2022, Acas conciliated in over 500 collective disputes and helped to settle 94% of these disputes.
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Background notes
1. Marina joined Acas in 2001 following a career in the civil service that has taken her from the Department of Employment, through the Ministry of Defence, to Acas. During her career she has held a varied range of roles covering procurement, contracts, corporate functions and as a claims officer in Bosnia.
2. Marina Glasgow took up her new role on 8 May and is the first woman to hold the position.
3. In 2021 and 2022, Acas conciliated in 510 disputes between an employer and a group of workers, represented by a trade union – around 6 in 10 of these disputes were pay-related.
4. Acas commissioned YouGov to poll employers and employees in representative samples of British businesses. The surveys were carried out online. The total sample size for the employer survey was 1,013 senior decision-makers excluding sole traders. Fieldwork was undertaken from 9 to 18 January 2023. The total sample size for the employee survey was 1,014 adults and fieldwork was undertaken from 12 to 18 January 2023.
Participants were asked: Acas offers a service called 'collective conciliation' that can mediate between employers and trade unions to help resolve disputes. Do you think that the various sides involved in strike action should or should not seek mediation from Acas to resolve the situation?
The employer survey results were:
- Yes, they should: 76%
- No, they should not: 8%
- Do not know: 16%
The employee survey results were:
- Yes, they should: 71%
- No, they should not: 6%
- Do not know: 23%