New Consultation on Employment Tribunal fees

Employment Solicitor, Lauren Ogden explains the Government’s proposal of fees in tribunals.

The government has launched a consultation relating to the introduction of fees in the Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunal. The proposal is that there will be the introduction of a claim issue fee in the employment tribunal and an appeal fee in the employment appeal tribunal, together with a suggested policy view on how the cost rules should apply to fees.

Fees would apply to claimants and appellants regardless of the type of claim or the track under which a case would be categorised. The proposals are:

• Introduction of a £55 issue fee that is payable by the claimant on bringing a claim to the ET
• Where a claim is brought by multiple claimants, the fee would remain at £55 and the cost could be divided among all the claimants involved as agreed between them.
• A hearing fee is not proposed and the £55 issue fee will cover the entire journey of a claim.
• Introduction of a £55 fee payable by the appellant upon lodging an appeal in the EAT.
• A fee of £55 would be payable per judgment, decision, direction or order of an employment tribunal being appealed, for example if the appeal includes an appeal against two employment tribunal decisions, the total fee payable would be £110.

Three types of proceedings have been identified whereby it would not be considered appropriate to charge a fee:

• a reference to the ET under section 170 of the ERA, which relates to payments under section 166 of the ERA and covers redundancy payments;
• a complaint to the ET under section 188 of the ERA which relates to payments under section 182 of the ERA; and
• a complaint to the ET under section 126 of the PSA in respect of payments under section 124 of the PSA, covering certain unpaid pension contributions.

The overall proposal relating to the introduction of fees is based on affordability, proportionality and simplicity. However, a person who is single, with no children, has less than £4,250 in disposable capital and a gross monthly income of £1,420 or less would be eligible for full remission of their employment tribunal or employment appeal tribunal fee.

The consultation can be found here and will close on 25 March 2024.