Abolition of Tribunal Fees

The Supreme Court has now ruled these tribunal fees were unlawful, on the grounds that when parliament confers employment rights on individuals, the Lord Chancellor cannot effectively take them away by introducing prohibitively high fees.  All fees paid by employees between 2013 and now will be refunded by the government.
 
Any person proposing to bring a claim will still have to go through ACAS preclaim conciliation which will enable you to evaluate the merits of such a claim.  Remember tribunals like documentary evidence so if you are in any situation which may conceivably result in acclaim make sure you keep notes as you go along. Above all do not take precipitate action without consulting
 
Where does that leave employers?
 
First, it is unlikely that fees will disappear entirely.  We think the government will probably bring in a different fees regime, with lower fees and possibly with employers contributing to the cost at the outset.  But we don’t know any details yet.
 
Second, any employees who might have brought claims between 2013 and 2017, but who were put off by the fees, can now seek permission to bring them ‘out of time’.  This will be easier with discrimination cases than unfair dismissal cases, but there will inevitably be a large number of such cases brought by ex-employees.