Guide to new rules and procedures and fees for Employment Tribunal claims

zzzLazyDaisy

From Monday 29th July fees are payable for lodging an Employment Tribunal claim (unless you qualify for an exemption). There are new forms and procedures to follow for making a claim.

Importantly, please note: if you fail to pay the fee or make the appropriate fee exemption application, your complaint will be rejected and time continues to run. This means that if you are close to the three month deadline, you could lose your right to make a claim.

Further information here:

The new Practice Direction on making a claim

http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/tribunals/employment/rules-legislation/et-practice-direction.pdf

The PD link above contains guidance to making a claim.

Fees
You can find online leaflets about fees here:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/employment/claims

Fees are paid online by debit or credit card, or by post by cheque.

Lodging a claim

The preferred method is on-line https://www.employmenttribunals.service.gov.uk/employment-tribunals
(note the link to the on-line service is not currently working, but presumably it will be by Monday 29th) This is very much the safest option and you get an immediate confirmation that your claim has been accepted, and if there is a problem you will know straight away.

Alternatively, you can lodge your claim by post to:

Employment Tribunal Central Office (England & Wales), PO Box
10218, Leicester, LE1 8EG.

(If you do decide to post your claim - which is not recommended - do check and double check everything - if you have made a mistake and your claim is returned, time continues to run and you could miss the deadline.)


Or in person to one of the participating Employment Tribunal Offices.

Note: Not all tribunal offices will accept ET claim forms, so if you choose this method, you should check the schedule attached to the Practice Direction (link above). If you choose this method you must present the claim within office hours - 9am - 4pm Monday to Friday. It is not clear yet whether you will be expected to just deposit the form and wait for a response, or whether someone will see to you personally (or even if this may vary from office to office) but if possible you should ask a clerk to check over the form to make sure there are no grounds for it to be rejected and ensure that it has been accepted and lodged before you leave the office.

Note: This post only covers lodging the claim. The tribunals also have new powers for dealing with cases more efficiently

The new Rules of Procedure are here

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1237/schedule/1/made

And a useful summary of the changes is here

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e7f09e69-8e6e-4626-ab86-8d84f8b0107a

Daisy

chocoholic78

Hi zzzLazyDaisy i have tried to pm you as i see you have offered a lot of advice on employment tribunal cases i am currently going through one and would like some info but it wont let me as it says your inbox is full would it be ok to contact you thank you chocoholic78 x

zzzLazyDaisy

Hi, sorry I am not posting much at the moment due to health reasons - hence my inbox being kept deliberately. However there are a number of experienced posters on this forum who can help you. I suggest that you start your own thread, if I am around I will take a look, but otherwise and I am sure someone else will be along soon.

Daisy.

cazziebo

Sorry to hear, Daisy. Take care XX

chocoholic78

Hi daisy thank you for replying x