Postponement requests

If you need to request an adjournment, you must apply to the tribunal with evidence to support your application, explaining the reasons why and for how long. If the application is on medical grounds, you must provide medical evidence, such as a letter from your consultant or GP. It should explain clearly that you are too unwell to attend the hearing, and indicate when you are likely to be well enough. A GP certificate signing you off work is not good enough.

In recent years, tribunals have become much tougher in their approach to adjournment requests, even by genuinely ill claimants. In Riley v The CPS [2013] EWCA Civ 951, the Court of Appeal said that the human right to have a “fair trial within a reasonable time” extends not just to the claimant but also to the employer and to other claimants waiting in the queue for their cases to be heard.

In January 2015, the government launched a consultation on making it even harder to obtain an adjournment. These proposals, if implemented, will ban any third request if two adjournments have already been granted, and any request made less than seven days before the hearing.

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (SBEEA) contains more rules that aim to limit postponement requests, coupled with an obligation to consider a costs award for a late request. These changes are not yet in force.