Employment tribunal fees and fee remission

Since July 2013, to bring any claim in the employment tribunal you must pay tribunal fees, unless you qualify for means-tested fee remission (i.e. full or partial reduction of the fee).

To bring a claim for unlawful deduction of wages to recover your unpaid sick pay, you must pay £160 to issue your claim, followed by a further £230 for your claim to be heard by a tribunal judge. There are extra fees for any appeal. The fee amount is fixed and does not take into account the size of your claim.

The remission rules are very complicated and not very generous. Both capital savings and income are taken into account, and both your means and those of your partner are assessed. In practice only a small minority of claimants qualify for fee remission. You can find more detail about fee remission in LRD’s annual booklet Law at Work (www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=BK&iss=1723).

Make sure you allow enough time to collect all the documents you need to prepare your application for fee remission in time. Only certain documents are accepted. You will not be allowed to bring your tribunal claim without having paid the fee or submitted a valid remission form.

Some unions have put in place arrangements to loan members the tribunal fee as long as certain conditions are met. Contact your union to find out the position. Even if your union has made this kind of arrangements, you must always apply for fee remission if you think you may qualify for it.

Public service union UNISON is running an on-going judicial review challenge to the introduction of tribunal fees. Although UNISON’s legal challenge has not yet been successful in the courts, the case has played a key political role in highlighting the injustice of tribunal fees and building momentum in the campaign to secure their abolition.