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Income threshold
[ch 13: pages 455-456]Claimants who are not receiving passported benefits must meet a gross monthly household income test. The threshold varies depending on whether someone is single and/or has dependent children. For example, to qualify for full remission, a childless couple must earn less than £1,245 gross per month (for a single person with no children, the amount is £1,085). Full details as to the different income thresholds can be found in Form EX160A How to apply for help with fees.
If a remission request is unsuccessful, there is a two-stage appeal process, first to the Delivery Manager within 14 days of the refusal letter and second to the Operational Manager whose decision is final.
Claimants can apply for a refund if they have paid their fee and it later turns out that they qualified for remission after all, but only if they apply within three months. The right to a refund is based on income and capital at the date the fee was paid, and takes no account of later changes in a claimant’s financial situation.
A successful party can generally expect to recover their tribunal fee from the other side, but the EAT has a broad discretion to decide whether to order payment and can take into account, for example, the other party’s means (Horizon Security Services Limited v Ndeze [2014] UKEAT 0071/14/1806, Old v Palace Fields Primary Academy [2014] UKEAT 0085/14/17100). Worrying tribunal rulings are already starting to emerge on this issue, for example:
In a disability claim involving a claimant with Type 2 diabetes, the EAT ordered the claimant to repay their employer’s £1,600 appeal fee in full, even though the tribunal confessed to knowing nothing about the claimant’s means, and speculated that they were “modest”. The order was made even though the outcome of the appeal was “academic” in relation to the claimant and the employer had opted to pursue it for its own benefit as the issue affected others in its workforce.
Metroline Travel Limited v Stoute [2015] UKEAT 0302/14/2601
www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2015/0302_14_2601.html
In a claim by an unrepresented claimant, the tribunal judge mistakenly awarded four weeks’ statutory compensation for the employer’s failure to supply a written statement of employment particulars (see Chapter 3). This kind of award can only be made where a claimant also succeeds in another jurisdiction such as unfair dismissal, which was not the case here. When the employer successfully appealed, the claimant was ordered to refund the £1,600 appeal fee in full, partly because she refused a written request by the employer’s solicitors to give up the compensation she had been awarded by the tribunal and to drop her claim.
Advanced Collective Systems Limited v Gultekin UKEAT/0377/14/LA
Many trade unions have made arrangements to loan the tribunal fee to members provided conditions are met, for example, as to the prospects for success of the claim, to be repaid if the claim succeeds. Members who qualify should always apply for remission under the “help with fees” scheme, regardless of any arrangements put in place by their union.