Changes to ET rules from October 2020

From 8 October 2020, important changes have been made to the ET rules, under the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2020.

The aim of these changes is to increase the capacity of the ET system to hear more claims. New analysis from charity Citizens Advice, published in October 2020, suggests that if the backlog of cases continues to increase at the current rate, outstanding claims could pass 500,000 at a “conservative estimate” by Spring 2021. The charity also suggests that around three in every 10 unfair dismissal cases are being withdrawn, as employees face a 34-week wait for a ruling in their case. Even before the pandemic hit, the ET system already had over 440,000 outstanding claims from both individuals and groups of employees. The most recent ET statistics (September 2020) show that single ET claims and the ET’s outstanding caseload increased, by 18% and 31% respectively, compared to a year ago.

Unions have welcomed most of the changes, while emphasising, however, that they do little to remedy the fundamental problem, namely years of underinvestment, leading to the huge backlog in claims that pre-dated the pandemic.

Here are the main changes to the ET rules of procedure, from October 2020.