Unions granted permission to appeal against introduction of Employment Tribunal fees

Employment Tribunal Fees 

Since July 2013 if you want to pursue a claim against your Employer in the Employment Tribunal you have been required to pay a fee of £160 or £230 (depending on the type of claim) and then a fee for the final Hearing of either £250 or £95. Some people on a low income or in receipt of benefits qualify for a fee exemption but generally most people have to pay these Employment Tribunal fees.

Prior to July 2013  there was no cost to make your claim and pursue your employment rights.

The trade union, Unison have been challenging the governments decision through the Courts and at the High Court the application was rejected. One of the reasons for the rejection was that the full impact of the fees introduction could not be measured.

Now that the first set of figures has been released regarding the number of claims it shows that there has been a 79% decrease in claims for the same period (October to December) the previous year. This is clearly a large decrease and there is concern that because of the Employment Tribunal fees people do not have the same access to justice.

Unison have now applied to the Court of Appeal for the right to appeal the decision of the High Court, and permission has now been granted. This means that Unison will now have the opportunity to argue the case against fees and will undoubtedly draw attention to the huge impact on the number of claims.

Have you been affected by the introduction of fees in the Employment Tribunal? 

If yes I would love to hear from you and to get your side of the story. Please leave a comment below or contact me at alison@realemploymentlawadvice.co.uk