witness statements for employment tribunals

cowsnhope

hiya
I have to exchange witness statements for an employment tribunal; I am the claimant and have no legal representation. I do not have any witnesses. I thought I would need to respond to my Respondents Grounds for Resistance but am now not sure this is what is wanted at this stage.
Thank you

Pricivius

If you have no other witnesses, then you are the only witness.#

Your statement should be a chronological breakdown of what you say happened. You need to start with

"1. I, Emma Ployee of 1 House Lane, Houseville, was employed by Company Name from 1 January 2013 as a bubble blower.

2. On 2 January 2013, I.."

Number each paragraph and make sure they are only about 10 lines long, preferably double spaced. Then just set out what you say happened, who said what and who did what, with reference to any documents which are in the bundle. So, "I sent an email on 3 February 2014 to confirm that I would be attending the meeting. A copy of my email is at page XX of the bundle."

And then you need to finish off by saying that the statement is true, and then sign and date it.

The statement is your evidence - it sets out what you want to say. When you get to the hearing, this is what the Judge and members will read and this is what the company's barrister will ask you about. You can't really add to it so make sure you refer to every event you want to include and that you don't skimp on detail. This is your chance to tell what happened.

cowsnhope

Thank you so much
I have a couple of question - sorry.
Firstly I've heard that i have to read out my witness statement - i've never been very good at reading allowed - in fact i'm seriously bad and will stumble a lot over my words and lose my place etc - the tribunal will be worse for me than just normally reading out loud as i'll be nervous anyway and as my statement will be long; so does it have to be me that reads it out?
Secondly - my respondent's solicitor has sent me a list of the bundle and the documents do have numbers on them - do i use the same numbers? they have included the paperwork i gave them in this?
thank you

Pricivius

No problem.

Firstly, it is up to the Judge whether you need to read your statement out loud. Some Judges will ask you to do so, whereas others will have read it in advance to save time so they won't ask you to read it out. I would suggest there is no harm in writing to the Tribunal and asking the Judge to give consideration to not asking you to read out the statement as you will find it very difficult in such a stressful environment. Hopefully, the Judge will take notice but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

However, don't get yourself stressed about this aspect of the case. I appreciate you don't find reading out loud comfortable, but if the Judge insists, I don't think anyone else can do it for you. I have never seen it happen, although others may have different experiences. And don't be embarrassed about stumbling over words if you have to read it out - just take your time and do the best you can do. No one will rush you and get annoyed with you.

Secondly, the documents with numbers on them are the bundle. The respondent's solicitor will provide copies to the Tribunal so that everyone has the same set of documents. All the documents you want to rely on should be in that list - please make sure you have no other documents that you need to add to the list.

You should therefore refer to these documents in your statement by the page numbers so that everyone in the Tribunal can look at the document you are talking about by turning to the same page.

jobbingmusician

The first post of this thread outlines what might be included in your bundle.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1462615

cowsnhope

Just wanted to say thank you again for your help