Labour Relations Agency: free help with workplace disputes in Northern Ireland

The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) is the body that helps with workplace disputes in Northern Ireland, doing the job Acas does in England, Scotland and Wales. Its services are free, confidential and impartial. You can ring its Workplace Information Service on 03300 555 300, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and you must go through its early conciliation service before most tribunal claims.

What the LRA does

The LRA provides “conciliation, mediation, arbitration and independent appeals”, plus advice on good employment practice. Employers, employer bodies, employees and workers can use it, and so can trade unions and HR and legal professionals. It does not take sides and it does not decide who is right in a dispute, unless both sides agree to arbitration.

It also publishes guides, template policies and flowcharts, and runs free training seminars and briefings. There is a free online Employment Document Toolkit for employers who need to write or update workplace policies. If you work in HR in a council or a health trust, you will probably meet this side of the LRA before you meet the dispute side.

The Workplace Information Service

The helpline is for questions about your rights and responsibilities at work: pay deductions, notice, holidays, how a grievance or disciplinary process should run. Calls are free of charge for the information given, and interpreters can be arranged. In 2025-26 the service took 14,929 calls, according to the LRA.

The advisers give information. They are not your representative, and they will not write your grievance or attend your hearing for you. For that, you need a union rep, a colleague or a solicitor.

The LRA’s other number, 03300 552 220, is the switchboard. Use it if you are already involved in a conciliation, mediation, independent appeal or arbitration case, or want details of events and webinars. The LRA has a head office at James House, 2-4 Cromac Avenue, The Gasworks, Belfast, and a regional office at Richmond Chambers, The Diamond, Derry~Londonderry.

Early conciliation before a tribunal

Since 27 January 2020 you have had to notify the LRA before you lodge a claim with an industrial tribunal or the Fair Employment Tribunal. Conciliation itself is voluntary and nobody can make you settle, but you cannot go to tribunal without having considered it, and you need the certificate the LRA issues.

You can start in four ways:

• online through the LRA website
• by phone, where a member of staff takes your details
• through a legal or trade union representative
• by downloading the form, filling it in and posting it

A conciliation officer usually contacts you within five working days. With your consent they then approach the other side. Notifying the LRA stops the tribunal clock for up to one month, and the officer can add 14 days if there is a reasonable prospect of agreement and both sides consent. If you settle, the agreement is legally binding. If you do not, or the other side will not take part, the LRA issues a certificate and you can go on to tribunal. A few claims are exempt, for example an application for interim relief in an unfair dismissal case, so check with the LRA if you think yours might be.

Most claims must be made within three months of the incident, and notifying the LRA in time is what protects your position. The full process is in industrial tribunals in Northern Ireland. For how the Great Britain version works, see Acas early conciliation.

Mediation and arbitration

Conciliation deals with disputes that could become a legal claim. Mediation is for relationships that have broken down: two colleagues, or a manager and a team member, who need to work together again. A neutral mediator helps each person say what the problem is and look for an arrangement both can live with. The LRA reported that 78 per cent of mediations to resolve interpersonal disputes reached agreement in 2025-26.

Arbitration is more formal. Both sides agree in advance to accept the decision of an independent arbitrator, so it works like a private alternative to a tribunal for some disputes. Independent appeals are a further LRA service listed alongside conciliation, mediation and arbitration.

Using the LRA alongside your own procedures

The LRA does not replace your employer’s grievance or disciplinary process. In a council, health trust, school or civil service department you will normally be expected to raise a problem internally first. Raising a grievance covers the steps, and your union rep can come with you to the hearing. If you are not in a union, trade unions in the public sector explains what membership gets you.

If internal routes have run out, the LRA is the next free step. The helpline is also open to anyone with a question before they take a formal step. Employment law in Northern Ireland is devolved and differs from the rules in Great Britain in several places, so the LRA is the right source for a Northern Ireland answer. How employment law in Northern Ireland differs lists the main differences.

When the issue is legal advice on your own case, such as whether to bring a claim or how much it is worth, ask a solicitor, Advice NI or your union.