Charging Fees in Employment Tribunals and the ... - Ministry of Justice

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Charging Fees in Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal Summary ofresponsesBackground1. Employment tribunals were initially created by the Industrial Training Act 1964to hear appeals against training levy assessments imposed by industrialtraining boards. This remains one of their functions today, but the jurisdictionhas since expanded to embrace a large number of different types of claimarising from employment situations. In this document, we refer to the personcommencing proceedings as the claimant, and the organisation defending theclaim (usually the employer or ex-employer) as the respondent.2. There are, in employment tribunals, separate jurisdictions for England & Walesand Scotland. The Employment Appeal Tribunal generally hears appeals fromall the employment tribunals on points of law.3. The consultation paper Charging Fees in Employment Tribunals and theEmployment Appeal Tribunal was published on 14 December 2011. It soughtviews on two alternative fee charging structures for the employment tribunalsand one proposed structure for the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Theconsultation did not seek views on the principle of charging fees as theGovernment announced its intention to introduce fees to bring a claim to theemployment tribunals or an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)in early 2011 1 , together with its reasons for doing so.4. At present taking a claim to an employment tribunal or appealing to the EAT isfree of charge and funded by the taxpayer. An alternative to using theemployment tribunals is for parties to use Acas conciliation or other Acasguidance and assistance 2 , in order to resolve their dispute, which is alsofunded by the taxpayer. The fee proposals are therefore intended to relievesome of the financial burden on the taxpayer by requiring users of theemployment tribunals and EAT to make a contribution to the cost of the servicethat they receive where they can afford to do so. The consultation invitedcomment on the proposed fee charging structures for introducing fees intothese tribunals.5. The consultation outlined two main options for the fee charging system inemployment tribunals.Option 1 proposed a two stage charging system with the first fee stagebeing due at the issue of a claim and the second fee stage due prior tohearing, with the level of fee payable dependent on the type of claimand stage in the proceedings. The aim of Option 1 was to transfer someof the costs of the tribunal from the taxpayer to the tribunal users.1 “Resolving Workplace Disputes” consultation: http://www.bis.gov.uk/Consultations/resolving-workplace-disputes2 For example Acas helpline: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=20424
Charging Fees in Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal Summary ofresponsesOption 2 proposed a single fee at issue, dependent on the type of claimand the value of the award sought by the claimant, so that a higher feewould be payable where the claimant sought an award over £30,000.Under Option 2, the tribunal would be restricted from making an awardover £30,000 unless the higher fee was paid. Business and businessrepresentative groups raised unlimited awards as an issue which actsas a barrier to business confidence and growth. Therefore, Option 2had the additional policy aims of providing businesses with greatercertainty over their maximum liability of an award and improvingclaimants’ expectations of what they may be awarded if they were to besuccessful in their claim.6. In addition, there were a number of proposals which were common to bothoptions, namely:That 6 “application specific” fees would be charged for:i. A counter-claim in a breach of contract case.ii. Application to set aside a default judgement.iii. Application for dismissal following settlement or withdrawal.iv. Request for written reasons after the judgement where reasonshave been given orally.v. Application for review of the tribunal’s judgement or decision.vi. A fee for mediation by the judiciary.The HMCTS fee remission system for civil courts in England and Waleswould be applied to the employment tribunals fee structure across thewhole of the UK to protect access to justice for those who:i. Cannot afford to pay the full fee or;ii. Can only afford make a contribution to it.Multiple cases would be charged more than single claims, with amultiplier applied dependent on the number of claims in the case.Refund provisions would be restricted to where a fee was taken in erroror where it became apparent that a claimant who had paid a fee waseligible for remission at the time at which they paid the fee.A power for the tribunal to order the unsuccessful party to reimburseany fees paid by the successful party.In the EAT a two stage charging system was proposed, similar toOption 1 in employment tribunals, with a fee payable upon requestingpermission to appeal and a further fee due prior to the hearing of the5
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Charging Fees in Employment Tribunals and the ... - Ministry of Justice

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