Further Employment Law Updates - 29/07/2013

Employment Tribunal Fees

From 29^th July 2013 there will be a fee for Claimants to issue claims and to have a claim heard in the Employment Tribunal.

There are two types of claim, Type A claims and Type B claims.

Type A claims are those less complex money claims e.g. breach of contract, redundancy pay, unlawful deduction of wages.

Type B claims are more complex claims e.g. unfair dismissal, discrimination, Whistle blowing.

The fees are as follows:-

FEE TYPE	ISSUE FEE	HEARING FEE	TOTAL
Type A Claims	£160	£230	£390
Type B Claims	£250	£950	£1200

Fee remission is available to those who cannot afford to pay the fees. This involves a three stage test.

1. If you are in receipt of certain benefits (Income support, working tax credits, income based Job Seekers Allowance or income related Employment & Support Allowance) then you will receive a full fee remission.
2. If you are not in receipt of any of the benefits outlined in 1 above then you may qualify for a fee remission based on the gross annual income test.  Full fee remission applies where your gross annual income is below:-

	Single	In a couple
With no children	£13,000	£18,000
1 child	£15,930	£20,930
2 children	£18,860	£23,860

The sum of £2,930 will be added to the gross amount for each additional child

3. If you do not qualify under test 1 and 2 above then you may be entitled to a partial remission of the Employment Tribunal fee which is based on your disposable monthly income

The Employment Tribunal fee or Fee Remission Form must be lodged with your Employment Tribunal Claim Form.  Original documentary evidence must be produced as evidence for fee remission purposes.  Without the necessary evidence the claim may be rejected and potentially fall out of time.

All claims in England and Wales together with the necessary payment or fee remission form will be lodged at Employment Tribunal Central Office, PO Box 10218, Leicester, LE1 8EQ

All claims in Scotland together with the necessary payment or fee remission form will be lodged at Employment Tribunals Central Office Scotland, PO Box 27105, Glasgow, G2 9JR

There is no fee for lodging a Response to a claim.

Other fees do however apply in connection with the review of default judgments (£100), counterclaims (£160), reconsideration of decisions (£100/£350) and Judicial mediation (£600)

If the Claimant is successful with his/her claim he/she will be entitled to claim the issue and hearing fee back from the Respondent.