Review of ET fees launched today

The Government has today announced the start of the review of the introduction of Employment Tribunal fees. The review will consider how effective the introduction of fees has been at meeting the original objectives, while maintaining access to justice.   Click here to read the announcement and the terms of reference for the review.
 
Meanwhile, in a few days time the Court of Appeal is expected to hear Unison's appeals against the decisions of the High Court refusing its two judicial review applications on the lawfulness of ET fees.  Unison's applications were rejected by the High Court in December 2014 because the High Court judged that the evidence as it stood demonstrated that the fee regime neither resulted in the principle of effectiveness being breached, nor gave rise to indirect discrimination.   Although there was agreement that there was overwhelming evidence that the fee regime had had an effect on the number of claims being made, the lack of evidence presented to the court concerning individual cases resulted in no case being made that 'would be' claimants, with arguable cases, have been prevented from lodging claims.
 
We will of course report the outcome of the appeals, and the ongoing review once they are published.