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 October to December 2024 (quarter 3 2024 to 2025).
All values in this bulletin are rounded to zero decimal places unless specified otherwise.
Main points:
- the helpline service handled around 158,500 calls this quarter, around a 11% increase on the previous quarter
- around 85% 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 39% of calls related to this topic
- the most common call subtopics this quarter were grievance procedure (16%), dismissal (14%), and non-payment or deduction of wage (10%)
- 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, and holiday and working time
2. Who is calling the helpline?
Call volumes
The helpline handled around 158,500 calls in October to December 2024. This is roughly an 11% increase on the previous quarter and roughly an 18% increase on July to September 2024. Values in Figure 1 have been rounded to 4 significant figures.
| Quarter | Call volume |
|---|---|
| October to December 2023 | 134,900 |
| January to March 2024 | 135,400 |
| April to June 2024 | 129,700 |
| July to September 2024 | 143,400 |
| October to December 2024 | 158,500 |
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, 85% 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 11% of calls were employer-side. In quarter 3 last year, 84% of calls were employee-side, while 11% of calls were employer-side.
The legend order reflects the order of the categories across the bars.
| Type of caller | October to December 2023 | July to September 2024 | October to December 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee-side | 84% | 85% | 85% |
| Employer-side | 11% | 11% | 10% |
| Other | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Unknown | 3% | 2% | 3% |
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:
- Discipline, dismissal and grievance (39% of data capture system records)
- Contracts (16%)
- Diversity and discrimination (13%)
Data capture system records can be assigned up to 5 call topics, therefore percentages may not add up to 100%.
| Call topic | Percentage of helpline calls |
|---|---|
| Discipline, dismissal and grievance | 39.3% |
| Contracts | 16.2% |
| Diversity and discrimination | 12.7% |
| Wages and National Minimum or Living Wage | 12.7% |
| Redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers | 12.6% |
| Others | 10.8% |
| Absences, sickness and stress | 10.3% |
| Holiday and working time | 6.2% |
| Maternity, paternity and adoption | 2.9% |
| Hot topics | 0.1% |
Table 1 highlights the change in the percentage of data capture system records with each call topic 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.
| Call topics | Percentage of helpline calls in October to December 2024 | Percentage point change versus July to September 2024 | Percentage point change versus October to December 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discipline, dismissal and grievance | 39.3 | 0.8 | -0.5 |
| Contracts | 16.2 | -0.7 | 0.0 |
| Diversity and discrimination | 12.7 | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| Wages and National Minimum or Living Wage | 12.7 | -0.1 | -0.5 |
| Redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers | 12.6 | 0.1 | 1.1 |
| Others | 10.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Absences, sickness and stress | 10.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Holiday and working time | 6.2 | -0.1 | -0.1 |
| Maternity, paternity and adoption | 2.9 | -0.2 | 0.2 |
| Hot topics | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
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 haven't 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%.
| 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% |
| Call subtopic | Percentage of helpline calls |
|---|---|
| Grievance procedure | 15.0% |
| Dismissal | 14.3% |
| Non-payment or deduction of wage | 10.3% |
| Discipline procedure | 10.1% |
| Redundancy procedure | 8.8% |
| Disability | 7.7% |
| Absence | 7.0% |
| Other (others) | 6.3% |
| Notice period or pay | 4.8% |
| Holiday entitlement | 4.8% |
| Call subtopic | Percentage of helpline calls |
|---|---|
| Grievance procedure | 16.5% |
| Dismissal | 14.3% |
| Non-payment or deduction of wage | 10.9% |
| Discipline procedure | 10.1% |
| Redundancy procedure | 8.1% |
| Absence | 7.4% |
| Other (others) | 7.2% |
| Disability | 7.1% |
| Notice period or pay | 5.0% |
| Holiday entitlement | 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.
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.
| Topics | Employee-side | Employer-side |
|---|---|---|
| Discipline, dismissal and grievance | 42.4% | 28.7% |
| Contracts | 16.6% | 18.2% |
| Diversity and discrimination | 14.0% | 6.7% |
| Wages and National Minimum or Living Wage | 13.8% | 5.8% |
| Redundancies, lay-offs and business transfers | 13.1% | 14.4% |
| Absences, sickness and stress | 10.1% | 16.0% |
| Others | 10.1% | 10.7% |
| Holiday and working time | 5.8% | 11.5% |
| Maternity, paternity and adoption | 2.6% | 6.3% |
| Hot topics | 0.1% | 0.2% |
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, and holiday and working time.
Figures 8 and 9 show that dismissal, discipline procedure, and redundancy procedure were amongst the common subtopics for both employees and employers in October to December 2024.
Data capture system records can be assigned up to 10 call subtopics, therefore percentages may not add up to 100%.
| Subtopic | Percentage of helpline calls |
|---|---|
| Grievance procedure | 18.2% |
| Dismissal | 15.1% |
| Non-payment or deduction of wage | 11.5% |
| Discipline procedure | 10.3% |
| Redundancy procedure | 9.5% |
Data capture system records can be assigned up to 10 call subtopics, therefore proportions may not add up to 100%.
| Subtopic | Percentage of helpline calls |
|---|---|
| Discipline procedure | 13.3% |
| Dismissal | 12.7% |
| Absence | 11.2% |
| Redundancy procedure | 9.5% |
| Holiday entitlement | 9.5% |
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