January 09, 2012
Employment tribunal fees in the UK are set for a major overhaul, as the government launched a consultation on their introduction earlier this month.
Following consultations, Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly outlined two possible options for employment tribunal fees from 2013:
- An initial fee of between £150 and £250 will be charged for a claimant to begin a claim, with an additional fee of between £250 and £1250 if the claim goes to a hearing, with no limit to the maximum award.
- A single fee of between £200 and £600 - but this would limit the maximum award to £30,000 - with the option of an additional fee of £1,750 for those who seek awards above this amount.
In both options, the tribunal would be given the power to order the unsuccessful party to reimburse fees paid by the successful party.
According to Mr Djanogly, the fee proposals are intended to encourage both sides involved in a claim to give greater consideration to the strength of their case prior to a tribunal. There were 218,100 claims to employment tribunals in 2010-11, a 44% increase on 2008-09, and under the new fees, this could save the taxpayer up to £84m annually.
Fees look set to bring employment tribunals into line with civil courts where claimants already pay a fee to use the service. Under the new tribunal fee system, the government will also fund a system of fee waivers for those who cannot afford to pay, similar to the civil court system.
"Currently, the UK taxpayer bears the entire £84 million cost per year of resolving other people's employment disputes at tribunals. This is not sustainable,” added Mr Djanogly. "We believe that people should pay a fair amount towards the cost of their case. Fee waivers will be available for people on low incomes to protect access to justice.
"Our proposed fees will encourage businesses and workers to settle problems earlier, through non-tribunal routes like conciliation or mediation, and we want to give businesses - particularly small businesses - the confidence to create new jobs without fear of being dragged into unnecessary actions."
The consultation will close in March 2012, with a view to introduce the fees no earlier than 2013-14.
