During our April HR Informed: Coffee and Catch-up webinar we discussed the prospect of Tribunal fees being re-introduced. Following which we attended the Regional Employment Tribunal User Group meeting and share some of the key insights below.
The current proposal is that Claimants would pay a flat fee of £55 to issue a claim in the Tribunal or appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).
No, this is not a deja-vu moment! You may recall that fees were introduced in July 2013 and resulted in a significant reduction in the number of claims submitted, in fact claims fell by 53% during the first 12 months of fees being introduced. In a landmark ruling in the case R (Unison) v The Lord Chancellor [2017], the Supreme Court quashed the fees regime; it concluded that the fees were set too high and prevented access to justice. Since fees were quashed, the number of cases lodged in the Tribunal have increased year on year from around 18,000 in 2016/17 to some 33,000 in 2022/23.
Under the old regime, claims were split into two categories: ‘Type A’ claims for defined sums, such as unauthorised deductions from wages or holiday pay; and ‘Type B’ claims involving more complex issues, such as unfair dismissal or discrimination. There was an issue fee and a hearing fee, in total costs for a Type A claim were £380, Type B were £1,200 and for appeals to the EAT, fees were £1,600.
The new proposal of a flat fee of £55 is significantly lower than the old regime; for those who cannot afford to pay there will also be a fee remission scheme. Notably, the consultation paper doesn’t envisage the successful claimant being able to recover the tribunal fee from the employer.
The objective for introducing fees is for claimants to meet some of the running costs of the Tribunal and EAT service. It’s estimated that the proposed fees could generate in the region of £1.3–1.7 million a year from 2025/206 onwards and will help recoup some of the running costs of the service (which in 2022/23 were around £80 million a year).
The Ministry of Justice consulted on the proposal to introduce fees earlier this year. No date has been confirmed for fees to be introduced, but the consultation assumes that fees will be implemented in November 2024.
Full details of the consultation on fees can be found here.
Other news:
- Caseloads in the Tribunal are now back to pre-pandemic levels. Nationally there are some 33,000 outstanding cases.
- The Southeast region is currently hearing around 450-600 cases each month, (such as case management hearings which are done principally by video and final hearings, which are predominantly in-person or hybrid hearings).
- Judicial Mediation continues to be viewed as a great success. The service has been operational for about 12 years now and in the last financial year, the Tribunal spent around 199 days mediating and saved 718 hearing days.
- Statistics indicate that two out of three cases settle at Judicial Mediation.
- A new Dispute Resolution Appointments (DRAs) is going to be introduced in our region soon. DRAs were pioneered in Birmingham and have good success rates in other regions. DRAs will be compulsory in complex cases, listed for six or more days. DRAs will be listed after the parties have completed disclosure and exchanged witness statement. Parties will be required to attend a hearing where a judge can discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the case. It’s an opportunity to introduce a reality check, where necessary. Parties are not compelled to negotiate, but the hearing often leads to settlement, or the issues being narrowed.
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This is only intended to be a summary and not specific legal advice. If you would like further information or advice, please do contact a member of our team.
Contact Us
If you have any questions on employment law, please contact a member of the team:
Selene Holden (seleneholden@greene-greene.com ~ 01284 717436)
Greg Jones (gregjones@greene-greene.com ~ 01284 717446)
Angharad Ellis Owen (aeo@greene-greene.com ~ 01284 717453)
Katie Harris-Wright (katieharris-wright@greene-greene.com ~ 01284 717442)
For more information on the services offered by Greene & Greene Solicitors please visit www.greene-greene.com and follow on Twitter @GreeneGreeneLaw.
