July 22, 2014

Employment Tribunal statistics continue to show a decrease in claims

Interestingly though, only 5% of all Employment Tribunal claims issued during the period from July to December 2013 qualified for a fee remission suggesting that fee remission is not an option for the vast majority of claimants.

The drop in claims is welcome news for employers and marks a time of far fewer vexatious and ‘nuisance’ claims. The other side of the argument, however, is that the fees (or the level of the fees) deny access to justice for many workers with legitimate claims and are a breach of EU law. On this point, many will be following UNISON’s judicial review challenge to fees with interest.

UNISON was recently granted permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal and this is due to be heard between September and December this year. UNISON will be asking the Court of Appeal to consider the ET statistics which were not available when the case was first heard by the High Court and which will inevitably add weight to their case. When UNISON lost in the High Court the observation was made by the Judge that, if further information came to light regarding the ET statistics at a later date, the matter might well benefit from being revisited. Well, now it is.

At Ro0yds Withy King, we can advise on the most recent employment regulations, assisting employers to put in place practical measures to ensure that the business always complies with the law and to prevent claims wherever possible. For more information, please contact our specialist Employment & HR team.

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