It seems that they might be! Some of you will remember that those presenting claims in the Employment Tribunals between July 2013 to July 2017 had to pay fees to do so.
There were issue fees, and separate hearing fees, which were set at different rates depending on the type of claim. Following the Supreme Court judgment in R (on the application of Unison) v Lord Chancellor where it was found that the fees introduced in 2013 were unlawful as they effectively prevented access to justice and were indirectly discriminatory against women and individuals with protected characteristics (who were more likely to bring claims attracting higher fees) the fees were abolished. However, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) did not discount putting in place a new fee scheme in future.
The MoJ has now issued a consultation on introducing a fee of £55 for all Employment Tribunal (ET) claims and Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) appeals. It states that it recognises that the fees introduced in 2013 did not strike the right balance between meeting the policy objective for claimants to meet some of the costs of the ET and EAT and protecting access to justice. The proposed fee will be payable on presenting a claim to an ET or lodging an appeal with the EAT and will cover the entire journey of the claim or appeal with no further hearing fee. The consultation closes on 25 March 2024 and, if implemented, fees may become payable from November 2024.
The MoJ points out that, since fees were quashed, cases have increased from around 18,000 in 2016/17 to around 33,000 in 2022/23. It states that its proposals are underpinned by three key principles: affordability, proportionality and simplicity. The consultation states that requiring claimants/appellants to pay a fee will ensure that users of the service are paying towards the running costs of the tribunals and will put them on broadly the same footing as users of other courts and tribunals who already pay fees, thereby ensuring cross-jurisdictional consistency. The MoJ estimates that the proposed fees could generate £1.3 million to £1.7 million a year from 2025/26 onwards and that modest fees may incentivise parties to settle their disputes early through Acas resulting in fewer claims being brought before the tribunal. We'd love to know your views on the proposal!
