Employment Tribunal Fees to be Abolished
In a landmark decision today, it has been decided by the Supreme Court that the Government’s decision back in 2013 to charge Employment Tribunal fees was unlawful and will be quashed.
The controversial decision made 4 years ago, led to many believing that the imposition of Employment tribunal fees prevented access to justice. Over time, the facts spoke for themselves and it was reported that the amount of claims brought by people who believed they had been unfairly dismissed had fallen by 70%.
The fees themselves generally amount to £1,200 per case and it has been said that these prevent many people from exercising their right to justice and bringing claims.
Lawson-West’s Director and Employment Solicitor Ashley Hunt remarked, “The cost of the fees will undoubtedly have prevented thousands of employees who had been unfairly or unfavourably treated by their employers getting the justice they deserved. We have seen this first hand from people who simply didn’t feel they could afford to bring a case even though they had strong cases of being either discriminated against or unfairly treated. This really is a turning point to allow Access to Justice back in the UK.”
Many of the technical points relating to refunds of the Tribunal Fee’s are currently unknown, and indeed it is unknown what alternative provision the Government may put in place. It is also possible that a reduced Tribunal fee system might be implemented. However, at present one source has indicated that the Employment Tribunal are refusing to take fee payments when claims are presented to them, whilst the Employment Tribunal online system has yet to be updated and still requires payments to be made under the old rules.
Interestingly it was also accepted by the Supreme Court that the fees were indirectly discriminatory as higher fees were charged in Discrimination Cases. This clearly goes against the fundamental principals enacted by the Government through the Equality Act of 2010.
Ashley added, “Ultimately, the fees never should have been introduced. It is however a serious issue that many people have been prevented from bringing claims over the last four years and provision now needs to be made to rectify this and allow those claims to be presented even though they were outside the limitation period.”
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