News

The first indications of the impact of the new fee structure for employment tribunals have started to come through ... but nothing is clear yet...

The normal 'average' number of applications made each month was 17,000.  The new fees were introduced on 29th July 2013 ... so what has happened so far...

In June 2013 there were 25,000 receipts (a rush before the changes), and a further 17,000 in July.

In August the number fell significantly to 7,000 receipts.  In September, the figure was up again to 14,000 (so not far away from the norm).

So there is no real clear picture yet - and to add to the confusion, the figures do not take into affect applications lodged in August and September that are waiting payment fees or decisions on remission.

Remission is where someone applies to have the fee waived due to their financial situation.  The problem with this is that it takes time for this to be processed.  In a recent case it has taken over 7 weeks longer for an ET1 (employment tribunal application) to be sent to the employer.

This means that employers will need to wait a little longer to be sure that an employee has not lodged a claim. 

This is not because the time period to lodge a claim has been extended (3 months less 1 day from the date of termination) - but the time taken by tribunals to process cases (especially where there is an application for remission) has, in practical terms, increased.