What happens to the ET1 Claim Form? 



First the tribunal office checks the Form ET1. The form will be rejected if:



• you have not used Form ET1;



• there is no tribunal fee or completed “Help with fees” form;



• there is no Acas EC Certificate reference number;



• information is missing, for example, the name and address of the employer;



• the tribunal has no power to consider it; 



• the claim is in a form that “cannot sensibly be responded to or is otherwise an abuse of the process” (rule 12).



Claimants have a right to ask for reconsideration of a decision to reject the claim within 14 days.



An employment judge should only reject a claim at this stage if he or she is certain that it cannot be responded to. If there is any doubt, the claim must be accepted and any problems should be dealt with at the next stage, known as Initial Consideration (see page 498). This gives the affected party the chance to be heard (Trustees of the William Jones Schools Foundation v Parry [2016] UKEAT/0089/16/JOJ).


Assuming the Form ET1 is not rejected, a copy is sent to the employer who is invited to respond by completing a Response Form known as Form ET3. A copy also goes to Acas.