The short answer to this question is: yes, of course – you can settle a claim at any stage in the process of your claim, whether it is before you bring a claim (often referred to as “pre-action”) or during your Employment Tribunal claim (once you have issued your claim in the Employment Tribunal).

If you want to settle your claims then the only things that will normally prevent you from doing so are: 1) whether your (previous) employer wants to settle as well; and 2) if your (previous) employer does want to settle, whether it is possible for the parties to agree on settlement terms.

If you are looking to settle your potential Employment Tribunal claims before you actually bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal then you would normally use a statutory “settlement agreement” to do so.

If you’ve already brought your claim in the Employment Tribunal then you would normally use an ACAS “COT3 agreement” to settle your claims – the reason why using a COT3 is better once you’ve brought an Employment Tribunal claim is that once you have settled your claim via a COT3 agreement then ACAS will be able to automatically inform the Employment Tribunal that the case has settled. This is particularly useful where the Employment Tribunal hearing is imminent.