Employment tribunal
Employment tribunals are tribunal public bodies in both England and Wales and Scotland that have statutory jurisdiction to hear disputes between employers and employees.[1]
Employment Tribunals (England and Wales)
1964 (as Industrial Tribunals) 1998 (as Employment Tribunals)
Barry Clarke
1964 (as Industrial Tribunals) 1998 (as Employment Tribunals)
Susan Walker
The most common disputes are concerned with unfair dismissal, redundancy payments and employment discrimination.
The tribunals are part of the UK tribunals system, administered by the HM Courts and Tribunals Service, an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice.
History[edit]
Employment tribunals were created as industrial tribunals by the Industrial Training Act 1964.[2] Industrial tribunals were judicial bodies consisting of a lawyer, who was the chairman, an individual nominated by an employer association, and another by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) or by a TUC-affiliated union. These independent panels heard and made legally binding rulings in relation to employment law disputes.[1]
Under the Employment Rights (Dispute Resolution) Act 1998, their name was changed to employment tribunals from 1 August 1998.[1] Employment tribunals continue to perform the same function as the industrial tribunals.
Jurisdiction and remit[edit]
Legal systems[edit]
There are separate employment tribunals for Scotland and for England and Wales, because Scots civil law differs dramatically from English civil law.
A claim may not be presented in Scotland for proceedings in England and Wales, and vice versa, but it is possible to transfer proceedings between the two jurisdictions in certain circumstances.[1]
Action can also be brought under a number of other statutes:
An Employment Tribunal hearing will always be chaired by a judge (known as an Employment Judge). The lead Employment Judge in their jurisdiction is called the President of Employment Tribunals. The current Presidents are:
The Employment Judge may decide a case with two lay individuals known as non-legal members. Depending on the type of the hearing, there will also be a clerk present to assist with administration.[11]
Controversies[edit]
Prevalence of unpaid awards[edit]
The Taylor Review referred to "widespread concerns about the number of employment tribunal awards that go unpaid" and reported that government-commissioned research undertaken in 2013 had shown that, following enforcement action taken by an individual, 34% of employment tribunal awards in England and Wales and 46% in Scotland remained unpaid.[11] In December 2018 the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy introduced a "naming scheme" to exert reputational pressure on employers who fail to pay awards. Only awards of £200 or more are affected by the scheme.[9]
Fees[edit]
In July 2013 the system was changed so that a fee of £160 or £250 must be paid by the individual when starting their employment tribunal[3] and a further payment of £230 or £950 for the actual hearing.[12]
This led to a sharp decline in the number of tribunal cases in the following 12 months.[13]
In July 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that the employment tribunal fees were unlawful.[5] The Ministry of Justice subsequently announced it would cease to charge the fees and refund those already paid.[8]
In January 2024, the Ministry of Justice launched a consultation on the reintroduction of fees for both the employment tribunal and the employment appeal tribunal. It proposed a single fee of £55 to issue a claim at the employment tribunal, but no hearing fee. Similarly, an appellant at the employment appeal tribunal would incur a £55 fee, and no hearing fee. The consultation referred to an intended implementation date of November 2024.[14]
The Employment Tribunals Service published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2005-06 in July 2006 which included these key points:[15]