Yesterday the Department of Justice published its statistics
showing the number of Employment Tribunal claims made for the period October to
December 2013. These were the first set of statistics since Claimants were
required pay fees in order to make a claim in the Employment Tribunal. Unsurprisingly
the number of claims made dropped by 79% compared to the previous period of July
to September leading to employment lawyers wondering about their future career and
tribunal judges twiddling their thumbs.
So will the number of claims remain permanently at this
level? It is certainly the case that tribunal fees will act as a deterrent for
many potential claimants. It is however likely that over time potential
claimants will become aware of alternative ways to fund tribunal litigation.
This would include using cover that may be provided by their household
insurance or having their fees paid by a trade union. It is also likely that many law firms will
carry out claims on behalf of claimants under a conditional fee agreement (“no
win, no fee”).
Claims for unpaid notice, holiday pay and unpaid wages are breach of
contract claims and can be heard in the County Court. Potentially if the claim
is for an amount less than £5000 it may potentially be cheaper to submit a
claim to the Small Claims Court rather than the Employment Tribunal. As
potential claimants become more aware of this potential course of action then
it becomes more likely that claims will be made through this route.
It is clear that the days of claims being submitted as a “punt”
in an effort to extract some form of settlement have largely passed; however,
while the goalposts may have changed I am of the view that the number of claims
made will increase again from their current low; however, not to the levels
that existed prior to July 2013.
