Acas appoints Baroness Jones as new chair

Baroness Maggie Jones of Whitchurch has been announced as the new Chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) Council.

Baroness Jones is a member of the House of Lords and has held several senior roles within the Government and large organisations. Her previous roles have included being a minister at the Department for Business and Trade, a director at Unison and numerous board and non-executive positions.

Acas Chief Executive, Niall Mackenzie, said: “I am delighted that Baroness Jones will join Acas as our new Chair. Her varied experience will be invaluable in our role as independent, impartial and trusted employment relations experts.

“Maggie’s expertise will help ensure Acas continues our crucial role within the world of work including the implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025.

“I also want to pay tribute to our current Acas Chair Clare Chapman whose stewardship saw a highly successful period where Acas doubled its reach and helped more businesses and workers.”

Baroness Jones said: “It is a profound privilege to be taking on this role. Acas is the leading authority in workplace relations whose purpose is to make working life better for everyone.

“It is a cause I have supported my entire professional career in my previous roles. The need for a strong successful Acas that can build healthy workplace relationships and encourage productive organisations is more important now than ever.

“We are at a watershed moment as the Employment Rights Act comes into force. My focus will be ensuring that Acas continues to help realise the human and economic benefits of renewed workplace relations.”

Baroness Jones will take over from current Acas Chair Clare Chapman, who has completed two full terms at Acas that will end on 31 March 2026.

Chapman said: “I am delighted that Maggie will be stepping into the role of Acas Chair. She brings a wealth of experience and Acas will continue to thrive under her leadership.

“The past six years has seen Acas successfully transform the way in which we work, leading to millions more workers and employers accessing our services. Just six per cent of early conciliation notifications resulted in a tribunal hearing, saving time, money and further stress for all parties.

“I am proud to have helped deliver significant results for our customers and look forward to a future in which Acas builds on that success to help prevent, manage and resolve conflict for many more at work.”

The Acas 2021–2025 strategy saw the organisation increase its reach, resolve disputes more effectively and forge consensus on the future of work:

• Over 2021-25 Acas helped to resolve nine out of 10 of early conciliation cases without the need to go to employment tribunal, reducing workplace conflict for all.
• Acas also sustained record settlement rates in its collective conciliation service, which saw Acas help to resolve 90% of cases between trade unions and workers.
• The Acas website reached twice as many people – web sessions recorded on the website more than doubled from 9 to 20 million. Its online reach grew to 286 million appearances in search results.
• Use of Acas good practice advice and training doubled to over a quarter of a million interactions by 2025.
• Awareness of Acas support among small and medium-sized businesses increased – from 83 per cent to 90 per cent and among individuals from 56 per cent to 77 per cent by 2025.

Baroness Jones will start on 1 April 2026 and will serve a three-year term.