Employment Tribunal Fees
Yesterday the Government issued a Consultation paper on reintroducing fees in the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
The fees which are being proposed is £55.00 to issue a claim in the Employment Tribunal, this is proposed to be a one-off fee and no further fees payable before a Hearing.
The proposed fee to submit an Employment Appeal Tribunal claim is also proposed to be £55.00.
The Government states that it has considered the impact of the Supreme Courts 2017 Judgement in Unison -v- The Lord Chancellor which had previously ruled that the Employment Tribunal’s fees regime was unlawful.
There is also proposed to be a remission system for those that genuinely cannot afford the fees and some very limited claims will be exempted (claims against the National Redundancy Fund and claims for failure to collectively consult in large scale redundancy).
The Consultation is due to close on the 25th March 2024.
The Impact Assessment states that the proposal should bring in £1.5 million a year after the first year. The consultation suggests an implementation date of November 2024.
Unison has said:
"We represent over a million workers, many low-paid. This will just put up a barrier to justice and allow bosses to get away with bad employment practices"
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak comments:
"This is another example of ministers taking the side of bad bosses, not working people.
Now, the government wants to make it even harder for working people to seek justice if they face discrimination, unfair dismissal or withheld wages.
When P&O Ferries flouted employment law by sacking 800 workers without notice, they did almost nothing about it.
All working people should be able to enforce their rights. But introducing fees for tribunals puts yet another hurdle in the way of those seeking justice at their most vulnerable moment.
The Tories have already tried this and failed. Last time they introduced tribunal fees, claims dropped by two-thirds. And the Supreme Court threw them out – saying they interfered with access to justice.
Working people shouldn’t be picking up the bill for exploitative employers’ poor behaviour. Employment tribunal fees are just an invitation for bad bosses to ride roughshod over workers."
Vaishali Thakerar from Lawson-West Solicitors says:
"The introduction of fees will hit people who are more likely to be unemployed. On top of the initial fee the claimant would also be instructing Solicitors or representatives, and further fees will be payable.
Claimants have their usual outgoings and taking a matter to the Employment Tribunal will cost them both financially and emotionally. With the current climate, it is a worry how claimants will have the income to pursue their claims.
However, this will have an impact on the number of cases being brought to the Employment Tribunal."
Watch this space as this story develops!
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