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Enforcing tribunal awards and costs orders
[ch 14: pages 468-469]Tribunals do not have power to enforce their awards or costs orders, so if an employer refuses to pay, the claimant must bring separate county court enforcement proceedings. This has led to shockingly low levels of recovery for successful claimants. Ministry of Justice research suggests that nearly 40% of tribunal awards are not paid at all and that 8% are paid only in part.
A system of Penalty Enforcement was introduced in April 2016 to try to address this. A claimant whose tribunal award or Acas settlement has not been paid must complete a Penalty Enforcement Form available online from the GOV.UK website and send it to the government’s ET Penalties Team. An enforcement officer will give the employer 28 days to pay and will collect the award for the claimant. There is a penalty to pay (50% of the award outstanding, with a minimum of £500 and maximum £5,000). It halves if the award is paid in 14 days. This penalty goes to HM Treasury, not the claimant.
Government response to the Taylor review — enforcement
The government’s response to the Taylor review has promised to consult on:
• increased state enforcement of basic rights, including sick pay and holiday pay, for “the most vulnerable workers”, and targeted enforcement to stamp out unpaid internships;
• simplifying the tribunal award enforcement process;
• “naming and shaming” employers that do not pay tribunal awards; and
• requiring tribunal judges to consider stronger punishments for employers who ignore previous tribunal judgments, including judgments against other workers with the same working arrangements as the claimant.
The maximum penalty for “aggravated breach” of employment rights (see above) is to be raised from £5,000 to £20,000 “as soon as practicable”.