Commenting ahead of UNISON's legal challenge to the fees regime for UK tribunals which continues tomorrow in the Court of Appeal, Ben Wood, partner at law firm Eversheds, says. “The latest statistics from the UK Ministry of Justice confirm a sustained reduction in the number of single employment tribunal claims lodged since the fees regime was introduced in 2013, and suggest that compulsory early conciliation, which has applied since May 2014, is contributing to that reduction. 

“However, it is clear that fees remain responsible for deterring many claimants who might otherwise have brought a claim, with the number of claims lodged in January to March 2015 being two-thirds lower than the figure for the same period in 2013 (before fees were introduced). “In contrast to single claims, the number of multiple claims has risen.  This is a significant, yet unsurprising, increase and is due, in the main, to a large volume of holiday pay claims brought following rulings in the Bear Scotland and Lock cases and the government’s decision to limit back pay claims from July this year. The figures also reflect a significant number of equal pay claims against large retailers. 

“In a further development to the UNISON case, the Government also recently announced that its long-promised review of the fees and remission schemes has now started and is expected to continue until late this year.  Clearly, the judicial review proceedings will influence the outcome of the review but even if UNISON’s challenge is unsuccessful a reduction in fees could still be on the cards.  Although the election has delivered a Conservative government, with deregulation high on its agenda, even some employer groups have acknowledged that the current level of fees is too high.  Furthermore, if fees are not reduced, the SNP is more likely to press for control over tribunal fees in Scotland to be passed to the Scottish Parliament as part of the further devolution plans.

“The review could also result in other changes to the Employment Tribunal system, as the government has said it will look at making ‘recommendations for streamlining procedures to reduce costs.’ What, exactly, this means remains to be seen, although one option that may be under consideration is for some cases to be disposed of on paper, without a hearing.”