Preparing and sharing documents for tribunal

Louiselody

Hello, grateful for demystifying the process. 

I am repping a family friend taking his former employer to tribunal for unfair dismissal (as a pretext to avoid redundancy, if relevant). I’m CIPD qualified but haven’t been through a tribunal process yet. 

Here’s the only guidance I have from the tribunal - and haven’t been able to find more detail online. 

1 The claimant shall set out in writing what remedy the Tribunal is being asked to award.

The claimant shall send a copy to the respondent. The claimant shall include any evidence and documentation supporting what is claimed and how it is calculated.

The claimant shall also include information about what steps the claimant has taken to reduce any loss (including any earnings or benefits received from new employment).

2 The claimant and the respondent shall send each other a list of any documents that they wish to refer to at the hearing or which are relevant to the case. They shall send each other a copy of any of these documents if requested to do so.

3 The respondent shall then prepare sufficient copies of the documents for the hearing. The file of documents shall be indexed.

The documents shall be in a logical order. All pages shall be numbered consecutively. The respondent shall provide the other parties with a copy of the file.

4 The claimant and the respondent shall prepare full written statements of the evidence they and their witnesses intend to give at the hearing. No additional witness evidence may be allowed at the hearing without permission of the Tribunal.

The written statements shall have numbered paragraphs. The claimant and the respondent shall send the written statements of their witnesses to each other. The statements must be filed electronically with the Tribunal via email.

5 The Respondent's representative is to file the bundle using the

DUC. The link to this will be sent in due course.

6 Parties must provide an agreed case list/chronology to be brought to the Hearing.

My questions are;

Do we send the schedule of loss to the employer and the tribunal via email? 

Then do we send just a list of what documents we’ll be referring to, again just by email? Is there a template? This says ‘disclosure - simultaneous only’. How do we ensure that? And at that stage we can request copies of what the other will be referring to? 

But then it says the respondent prepares ‘sufficient copies of the documents for the hearing’. And the file of documents should be indexed, and the documents should be in order and the pages should be numbered. But we wouldn’t have sent them any documents yet (unless they specifically requested any)? 

It also says they’ll provide us with a copy of this file. What will this file entail if we haven’t sent them our evidence documents yet?

Then it says we send each other our witness statements (which will refer to our evidence docs). Do I then update my witness statement to include their page numbering of my evidence documents?

And what does this mean? “Parties must provide an agreed case list/chronology to be brought to the Hearing.” How do we agree? To whom do we provide it? 

Thanks for any help!

LightFlare

Does said family member realise that they are being represented by someone who is in effect “winging” it.

Strongly recommend professional help/representation

Hoenir

While it's a decent thing to help a family friend. Don't let this cloud your professional judgement. 

mybestattempt

Louiselody said:

Hello, grateful for demystifying the process. 

I am repping a family friend taking his former employer to tribunal for unfair dismissal (as a pretext to avoid redundancy, if relevant). I’m CIPD qualified but haven’t been through a tribunal process yet. 

Here’s the only guidance I have from the tribunal - and haven’t been able to find more detail online. 

1 The claimant shall set out in writing what remedy the Tribunal is being asked to award.

The claimant shall send a copy to the respondent. The claimant shall include any evidence and documentation supporting what is claimed and how it is calculated.

The claimant shall also include information about what steps the claimant has taken to reduce any loss (including any earnings or benefits received from new employment).

2 The claimant and the respondent shall send each other a list of any documents that they wish to refer to at the hearing or which are relevant to the case. They shall send each other a copy of any of these documents if requested to do so.

3 The respondent shall then prepare sufficient copies of the documents for the hearing. The file of documents shall be indexed.

The documents shall be in a logical order. All pages shall be numbered consecutively. The respondent shall provide the other parties with a copy of the file.

4 The claimant and the respondent shall prepare full written statements of the evidence they and their witnesses intend to give at the hearing. No additional witness evidence may be allowed at the hearing without permission of the Tribunal.

The written statements shall have numbered paragraphs. The claimant and the respondent shall send the written statements of their witnesses to each other. The statements must be filed electronically with the Tribunal via email.

5 The Respondent's representative is to file the bundle using the

DUC. The link to this will be sent in due course.

6 Parties must provide an agreed case list/chronology to be brought to the Hearing.

My questions are;

Do we send the schedule of loss to the employer and the tribunal via email? 

Then do we send just a list of what documents we’ll be referring to, again just by email? Is there a template? This says ‘disclosure - simultaneous only’. How do we ensure that? And at that stage we can request copies of what the other will be referring to? 

But then it says the respondent prepares ‘sufficient copies of the documents for the hearing’. And the file of documents should be indexed, and the documents should be in order and the pages should be numbered. But we wouldn’t have sent them any documents yet (unless they specifically requested any)? 

It also says they’ll provide us with a copy of this file. What will this file entail if we haven’t sent them our evidence documents yet?

Then it says we send each other our witness statements (which will refer to our evidence docs). Do I then update my witness statement to include their page numbering of my evidence documents?

And what does this mean? “Parties must provide an agreed case list/chronology to be brought to the Hearing.” How do we agree? To whom do we provide it? 

Thanks for any help!

This may help:

https://www.judiciary.uk/courts-and-tribunals/tribunals/employment-tribunal/employment-tribunal-england-wales/before-the-hearing/

The tribunal has made orders/directions (not guidance) which you must understand and comply with.

I'm afraid that if you don't understand the tribunal procedures, rules of disclosure, exchange of documents etc. then professional legal help should be sought.

Louiselody

Thank you Mybestattempt. That link was really helpful, I appreciate the response. To the other comments - while I appreciate a solicitor is ideal, not everyone can afford it and many, many people represent themselves at tribunal. If we are not able to clarify the very brief instructions provided by the court, we will consider legal advice. All we are asking the forum is if anyone has been through the process and can guide us 

GingerTim

You might find that r/LegalAdviceUk on Reddit will be able to provide more advice.

Is your friend in a union and can potentially avail themselves of their legal advice?

Marcon

Louiselody said:

Thank you Mybestattempt. That link was really helpful, I appreciate the response. To the other comments - while I appreciate a solicitor is ideal, not everyone can afford it and many, many people represent themselves at tribunal. If we are not able to clarify the very brief instructions provided by the court, we will consider legal advice. All we are asking the forum is if anyone has been through the process and can guide us 

Have a look at https://www.lawclinic.org.uk/employment-law-resources and do some clicking! They've got a whole load of useful info and templates - and the fact they are based in Scotland doesn't negate just how useful their resources are.

Or of course your own professional body's website could help: https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/employment-law/tribunals/ and https://community.cipd.co.uk/ 

Hoenir

Louiselody said:

Thank you Mybestattempt. That link was really helpful, I appreciate the response. To the other comments - while I appreciate a solicitor is ideal, not everyone can afford it and many, many people represent themselves at tribunal. If we are not able to clarify the very brief instructions provided by the court, we will consider legal advice. All we are asking the forum is if anyone has been through the process and can guide us 

For people unable to afford legal representation a no win no fee solicitor is often the first port of call. As they'll determine whether it's even worth pursuing. Depending on the documentary evidence available and witnessess willing to give statements. A strong case needs to be built. If you don't follow proper procedure in bringing the claim the employer can seek reimbursement of their costs. 

Nothanks

CIPD has a legal advice line for members too. 

In my experience- Simultaneous disclosure is usually done by one party sending the bundle by email password protected at an agreed time. Then when the other party shares their documents the first party responds with the password. 

Yes, schedule of loss goes to both - in fact any correspondence at all must copy in the respondent and the relevant tribunal office. 

In terms of the agreed bundle, I think in your post it says that the respondent is the one who has to prepare it, so expect a huge wedge of paper by email and by post. Your role is to read it and agree the chronology of events and any documents they should have included but haven’t. Just to agree the facts of the case before the legal niceties begin. This is done via email to both parties and the tribunal. 

Worth referring back to the orders issued after the preliminary hearing as they should clarify who needs to send what and when. 

I wouldn’t worry about changing any page numbers for your statements etc. Let the respondent do it. 

Nothanks

Sorry that was a bit half assed and not in order of what you asked 

Louiselody

Thanks all for the helpful comments. We got £10k in the end (above the minimum I’d hoped for) and got an apology in writing. After understanding the initial unclear tribunal guidance, it was relatively straightforward. Happy to advise anyone else self-representing in future