Proposed re-introduction of fees in employment tribunals and the EAT

For those of you who might be thinking you’ve entered a time warp, we have not turned the clock back by seven years, when the Supreme Court (in Unison v The Lord Chancellor) ruled that a previous, more expensive, Employment Tribunal fees regime was unlawful.

This is a new proposal for a new regime, incorporating what the Government describes as a modest fee for presentation of claims in the Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

A proposed one-off fee of £55 to bring a claim has been suggested, with no further fee payable for any hearing. The consultation paper confirms that, where a claim is brought by multiple claimants, the fee would remain at £55 and ‘the claimant’ would be treated as a single entity. A £55 fee would also be introduced upon lodging an appeal in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. The consultation paper notes that the fee of £55 would be payable per judgment, decision, direction or order of an ET being appealed. For instance, if a notice of appeal includes appeals against two ET decisions, the total fee payable would be £110.

According to the consultation document, the purpose of reintroducing the fee regime is to “contribute to the running costs of the tribunals and put users on a similar footing as users of other courts and tribunals who already pay fees”. It also aims to encourage workers to settle their disputes through conciliation. The Government has clearly taken account of the access to justice challenges which were successfully made in respect of the previous regime, no doubt hoping that the new proposal would not be vulnerable to such judicial review in the future.

The consultation closes on 25 March 2024. We will keep you posted on the outcome, but it looks likely that fees could be coming back.

Further information is available here.

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