A letter sent via email to Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal stakeholders on May 28th confirmed that employment tribunal fees will be introduced on 29th July this year.
The new fee structure will see claimants seeking holiday pay, redundancy pay and notice pay or compensation for illegal wage deductions charged £160 to issue a claim and £230 for a hearing, a total of £390 to bring a full case.
Those with unfair dismissal, discrimination, equal pay and whistleblowing cases will be required to pay £250 to issue a claim and £950 for a hearing, a total of £1200 to bring a full case.
Over the past two years that the government has been planning to put employment tribunal fees in place and the Campaign For Trade Union Freedom along with the Institute Of Employment Rights and unions have campaigned against the charges and other changes to the law, including a doubling of the qualifying period for unfair dismissal, the halving of collective redundancy consultation periods and cuts to legal aid, together create a climate in which it is extremely difficult for workers to receive compensation and support if they are treated unfairly by their employer.
These issues are explored in-depth in the Institute Of Employment Rights publications Justice Deferred: a critical guide to the Coalition’s employment tribunal reforms and Access to justice in employment disputes: surveying the terrain.
You can also read Adrian Weir’s review of Justice Deferred by clicking here.
Well this another ‘low’ for this Government. I have sat on Tribunals for nearly 20 years and this move is a total disgrace. Not only have people had the right to have their basic Unfair Dismissal claim put before a Tribunal of three,i.e. a Judge plus two experienced employment members, taken away……they will now have to pay to have a potential miscarriage of basic Justice to be heard before a Tribunal.
It is mostly the vulnerable, ordinary worker that has to come to a Tribunal to make a claim. Many do not have any backing at all….from an Association or Trade Union for instance. Many are on low pay, part-time, women etc. who are in unskilled & non-professional occupations.
Once again, we see this Government picking on the most vulnerable of our Society . It really is a crying shame to witness many of these cases and the people that bring them. For many it is their only chance of true Justice…..to be heard by an Independent Court of Justice. Now, many will have to PAY for the ‘Right’ to have their cases heard. This callous move takes the Judicial system and ‘Free Access for Justice to all’ back many decades…..if not Centuries when people, if they could afford it, would turn up at The Inns of Court and beg a Barrister to represent them. The Barristers would enevitably do so. This would depend on the case/claim but more so…..how many Gold coins could you produce? Now we have a fees system ‘Re-Introduced’ What a caring and progressive Government we trully have.