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10. DISMISSAL
[ch 10: pages 264-265]Unlike many of the laws discussed in this guide, unfair dismissal law is largely “home-grown” domestic legislation, as opposed to having been enacted as a response to a European Directive. One consequence is that there is more scope for governments to make detrimental change without infringing European laws. The most important changes to unfair dismissal law since the coalition government took office in 2010 are listed below.
Most important recent changes affecting unfair dismissal law
Here is a short summary of the most important changes to the right to claim unfair dismissal made by the coalition government:
• since 6 April 2012, most claims require two years’ continuous service (see page 264);
• since 29 July 2013, tribunal fees totalling £1,200 must be paid to bring any unfair dismissal claim, irrespective of the likely value of the claim. This sum is made up of an issue fee of £250 and a hearing fee of £950. A few claimants may qualify for remission. For more information, see Chapter 1;
• the Acas Early Conciliation process, launched in April 2014, requires all potential claimants to contact Acas to consider conciliation before issuing a claim. This important change is explained in Chapter 1;
• in July 2013, the law changed to introduce the concept of the “protected conversation”, which is relevant to claims for ordinary (but not automatic) unfair dismissal. The new law bars these claimants from telling the tribunal about any discussion aimed at ending the employment on agreed terms, unless there is evidence of “improper behaviour”. This development is explained on page 43;
• the size of the compensatory award has been limited, for all dismissals on or after 29 July 2013. The compensatory award is now capped at the higher of 52 weeks’ gross pay or the annual limit (£76,574 from 6 April 2014). In practice, this change will affect very few claimants, since the median unfair dismissal award in 2012-13 was just £4,832;
• changes have been made to whistleblowing laws. These are explained on page 294;
• from July 2013, the service requirement was removed for claims of unfair dismissal for political belief (see page 296);
• the scope of protection against automatically unfair dismissal in the context of TUPE has been reduced. This change affects all claims where notice of dismissal was given on or after 31 January 2014 (or if no notice was given, where the effective date of termination of the employment was on or after 31 January 2014 (see page 385).