The employment tribunal system 


The Employment Tribunal Service is part of the Ministry of Justice HM Courts and Tribunals Service. Most employment claims are heard by employment tribunals, although some cases must be brought in the ordinary civil courts (the Small Claims Court, the County Court or the High Court). 


The main kinds of claim that workers must take to the civil courts rather than the employment tribunal are:


• all breach of contract claims where the employment contract is ongoing;


• applications for injunctions; and


• claims for compensation for personal injury (although a claim can be brought in the employment tribunal where the injury was caused by unlawful discrimination or harassment in breach of the Equality Act 2010 — see Chapter 7). 


Employment tribunals (industrial tribunals in Northern Ireland) were originally set up under the Industrial Training Act 1964 as an informal, accessible, quick and inexpensive way of resolving employment disputes, and a means of reducing strikes. They represented a deliberate policy shift away from resolving workplace disputes through collective industrial action and towards an approach based on individual legal rights. 


The introduction of tribunal fees in July 2013 resulted in a dramatic 79% collapse in the number of tribunal claims, while at the same time effectively removing the employment tribunal’s wider role as a setter of norms for good employer behaviour. A TUC report into what lies behind the steep decline in claims — What price justice? —confirmed that women and the low paid are the biggest losers from the tribunal fee regime. In practice, only union members or the very wealthiest workers can access the tribunal. Many unions have made arrangements to loan the tribunal fee to members, subject to conditions such as the strength of the claim. The Scottish government has promised to abolish tribunal fees. There are no tribunal fees in Northern Ireland. There is detailed information about tribunal fees in Chapter 13.


An employment tribunal’s jurisdiction is based on statute. Without a legal statute giving the tribunal the power to deal with a particular issue, it is not allowed to consider it. An employment tribunal can hear some claims by employees for breach of the employment contract, as long as the breach arises or is outstanding on dismissal (see Chapter 3). However, unlike the civil courts, where there is no cap, compensation for a successful contract claim in the employment tribunal is capped at a maximum of £25,000. There is a general legal principle that if you bring a claim in one court, you cannot then take the same claim to another.


Employment tribunals are for claims by workers against their employer, not for claims by employers against workers. Employers must bring all their claims in the civil courts. The only time an employer can claim in the employment tribunal is where their employee has already issued an employment tribunal claim for breach of the employment contract, when the employer may be able to “counter-claim” against the employee for damages for breach of the same contract. Legal advice should be taken before issuing any type of tribunal claim. 


Employment tribunals have their own rules of procedure, the Employment Tribunal (Constitution & Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013. 


Employment tribunals hear a wide range of claims, including claims for unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction from wages, redundancy pay, discrimination, equal pay, claims relating to parental rights, working time claims, claims based on unlawful blacklisting and most trade union rights. 


In May 2014, it became mandatory for prospective claimants to initiate Acas Early Conciliation as a first step in all tribunal claims (except claims for “interim relief”) by submitting an Acas Early Conciliation Notification Form. The purpose of Acas Early Conciliation (Acas EC) is to establish whether a dispute can be resolved through Acas at an early stage without the need for a tribunal claim. 


The Acas EC procedure also operates as a mandatory gateway to the tribunal system. If an Acas Early Conciliation Notification Form has not been submitted in time and an Acas Early Conciliation Certificate Number obtained, the claim cannot be heard by the tribunal and must be dismissed. Chapter 13 contains information on accessing Acas EC and making a tribunal claim. There is more information available on the Acas website.