The Ministry of Justice launches a consultation on the reintroduction of "modest" fees in the Employment Tribunal

The Ministry of Justice has launched a consultation on the reintroduction of "modest" fees in the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. The consultation will close on the 25th March 2024 and the link to the consultation can be found here.

The proposal is to introduce a £55 issue fee that is payable by the claimant on bringing a claim to the Employment Tribunal. The £55 issue fee will cover the entire journey of a claim in an Employment Tribunal, which means there would not be an additional hearing fee. Where a claim is brought by multiple claimants, the fee would remain at £55 and "the claimant" would be treated as a single entity. The cost of the fee could therefore be divided among all the claimants involved. There would also be a £55 fee payable by an appellant upon lodging an appeal in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. A fee of £55 would be payable per judgement, decision, direction or order of an Employment Tribunal being appealed: "For example, if a notice of appeal includes appeals against two ET decisions, the total fee payable would be £110."

Those who are not able to afford to pay the proposed fee will be supported by the employee remission scheme (Help with Fees). The Help with Fees scheme provides individuals on low income and little or no savings with financial support towards the cost of their court or tribunal fees, provided they are eligible.

There will be no fee payable where individuals are required to bring proceedings before an Employment Tribunal to establish their right to a payment from the National Insurance Fund.

The Ministry of Justice state in their consultation document that the key principles that underpin the proposal to reintroduce fees are: affordability, proportionality and simplicity. It is estimated that the proposed fees could generate £1.3m - £1.7m a year from 2025 / 26 onwards.

Depending upon the outcome of the consultation, fees could be reintroduced from November 2024.