Employment Law Cases

Tribunal fees are here to remain - but with tinkering at the edges.

A government review of the impact of tribunal fees has concluded that ‘while there is clear evidence that fees have discouraged people from bringing claims, there is no conclusive evidence that they have been prevented from doing so’. As such the current fees regime, and the level of fees, will stay although some minor changes are being made.

These include the following:

• The gross monthly income threshold for a fee remission would be increased from £1,085 to £1,250 – broadly in line with the income of someone working full time and on the National Living Wage. So someone earning less than this wouldn’t have to pay any fees (assuming their disposable capital is also below the relevant threshold).
• Certain claims are now exempt from fees altogether. These are claims which relate to payments from the National Insurance Fund where, as the government acknowledges, ‘conciliation is rarely a realistic option’. Such claims are typically for redundancy payments where the employer is insolvent.

As to the specific effect of fees on maternity and pregnancy-related claims (which has been looked at by two Parliamentary Committees) the government states:

‘There is no evidence that [such] claims have been particularly affected by the introduction of fees, and there is therefore no reason that they should be treated more favourably as far as fees are concerned than other types of claim. We do not therefore agree that fees for these types of claim should be reduced. Instead, we believe that any concerns about the impact of fees on these types of claim are better addressed through the proposed adjustment to the Help with Fees scheme, under which support would be targeted to those most likely to struggle to pay the fees.’

The fees regime has been much criticised. In March 2017, the Supreme Court will hear Unison’s appeal against the rejection of its legal challenge by the Court of Appeal.