I have accepted my personal offer, how long will it be before I receive my COT3?
ACAS process those who accepted their personal offer following an ACAS webinar and send across a list of names to Lambeth Council. This does not happen immediately, generally it has ranged between at least a few days to a couple of weeks and it is sent in batches which are not in any specific order (i.e. not split up by webinar/in any particular school).
Some staff members seem to have been under the impression that they should receive their COT3 within 24 hours of attending an ACAS webinar and accepting their personal offer. We are not sure where this information has been generated but can confirm that it is incorrect.
Upon receipt of these, Lambeth Council must process these names and send out their COT3 one by one to each individual to be signed.
For Lambeth Council’s own internal audit purposes and in compliance with ACAS guidelines Lambeth Council cannot send out a COT3 to a staff member who has accepted their personal offer until we receive their name on the list of those who have accepted their personal offer from ACAS, even if a staff member advises us directly of this themselves.
This will explain why some individuals in one school may have received their COT3 but others haven’t - it is because we have not yet received notification from ACAS that they accepted their offer but have received notification that their colleagues at the same school have. Alternatively, as explained above we may not have received all of the key pieces of information from ACAS (full name, email address, ACAS reference number and school) and therefore they cannot be processed until we get this information.
Concurrently, Lambeth has been dealing with a large volume of requests and at the end of each month must turn their attention towards signing off its end on the COT3s (next to ‘On behalf of the First and Second Employer/ Respondent’ which is why staff must leave this section blank and only sign next to ‘The Employee’ or ‘The Claimant’ on their COT3, print name and date) which have been received over the course of each month and passing them onto Payroll so that staff can be paid out in the next Payroll month.
We are also doing a final spot-check of the figures both for TTO backpay and pensions.
Bearing in mind all of the above it could range from roughly four to six weeks or even more (if we do not have all of the key details from ACAS) between you attending an ACAS webinar, accepting your personal offer and you being sent your COT3 to be signed.
A reminder that staff should not attend an ACAS webinar unless they have received a personal offer letter a minimum of two weeks in advance of the webinar itself. This is due to ACAS requirements that staff are able to properly consider their personal offer ahead of the webinar itself.