Cabinet showdown over employment tribunal fees

Fees of up to £1,250 were introduced for tribunals in 2013. The Government said at the time that the new regime would deter employees from pursuing spurious or false claims

and the new arrangements were welcomed by many businesses.

Now however Mr Cable has ordered his own investigation into whether or not the new fees structure was discouraging workers from taking up legitimate grievances.

This puts the Lib Dem minister on a collision course with fellow cabinet member Chris Grayling. The Justice Secretary has so far ignored calls for a review of the policy.

Recently released Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show a fall in the number of sexual discrimination cases taken to employment tribunals, from 6,310 during April, May and June 2013, to 591 during the same three-month period last year.

Despite a 90 per cent drop in the cases being brought to tribunal, there has been no significant change in the claimant success rate.

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