Employment Tribunal Costs

Introduction

In an effort to reduce the cost to the Ministry of Justice of running Employment Tribunals (ET) and Employment Appeal Tribunals (EAT), the government has decided to introduce various fees which must be paid, such as when an initial claim is made to the ET or an appeal is lodged with the EAT. Although this scheme could deter serial litigants or those making vexatious claims, employers are also affected by the changes because appeals and various employment tribunal related applications also attract fees.

It should be noted that judicial review proceedings questioning the legality of the introduction of these fees are taking place.

When are fees payable?

Fees are now chargeable for lodging a claim with an ET or an appeal with the EAT. These fees, which came into effect on 29th July 2013, are payable in the following circumstances:

• at issue of claim or appeal and before hearing
• on application for a review of default judgment
• on application to dismiss following withdrawal
• on application for a counter-claim
• on application for review of final decision
• on application for judicial mediation

What are the levels of fees?

Employment Tribunal

The ET claim fees are split into Type A (simpler claims relating to wage deductions, refusals to allow time off etc.) and Type B (more complex claims relating to discrimination, detriment and unfair dismissal etc.) as follows:

Where there are multiple claimants, the fees will be split as follows:

Type A Claims

Type B Claims

The application specific fees are as follows:

Employment Appeal Tribunal

EAT are not split into type A or type B, but are simply as follows:

Claims will only attract fees if they are lodged on or after the 29th July 2013. Any claims issued before this date will not attract fees - even if the hearing date is later. However, any appeals made to the EAT on or after 29th July 2013 will attract fees.

Judicial Review