News review 2011: Unfair dismissal and tribunals

Current consultations on future reforms could change the way employment claims are handled

The Government is beginning to put flesh on the bones of proposals to reform the tribunal system, following a year of leaked reports and speculation.

Tribunal fees

The Ministry of Justice has now produced a consultation on charging fees for tribunals containing two possible options:

an initial fee for lodging a claim of between £150-£250, depending on the nature of the claim, plus an additional fee of between £250-£1,250 if the claim goes to a hearing, with no limit on how much the tribunal can award. Fees of up to £7,500 could apply where there are multiple claimants. Employers would be charged fees of between £60 and £750 for other applications to a tribunal, such as bringing a counter-claim or judicial mediation. Claims taken to the Employment Appeal Tribunal will be charged an initial fee of £400, and £1,200 if the claim goes to a full hearing
a single fee of between £200-£600 for lodging a claim, with a cap on the amount a tribunal can award of £30,000. Claimants would have the option of paying an additional fee of £1,750 if they were seeking awards above £30,000.

Tribunals will be able to order unsuccessful claimants to pay the successful party’s fees, and applicants would have the fees remitted or waived if they don’t have the means to pay them.

The aim behind the proposals is to reduce tribunal costs, and encourage employees and employers to resolve disputes before going to a tribunal. The earliest the reforms could become law would be 2013.

Further reforms

Other proposals include all disputes being offered pre-claim conciliation at Acas, and streamlining the tribunal procedure itself.

The Government has also promised a consultation in 2012 on ‘protected conversations’, a means of giving employers the opportunity to talk to employees without fear of the content later being used as tribunal evidence, and on simplifying compromise agreements, a way of ending employment contracts by the employer paying the employee an agreed amount.