Are Employment Tribunal fees returning?

Open as of 29 January 2024, until 25 March 2024, the Government have announced a consultation into the reintroduction of fees, payable on the presentation of a claim in the Employment Tribunal or an appeal in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). 

The fee is currently proposed to be £55 for a Claimant to pay when bringing a claim to the ET – where there are multiple Claimants, the fee would be the same and all would be treated as a single entity. This fee would cover the claim for its lifecycle; there would be no additional hearing fee. 

Similarly, the £55 fee would be for an appellant to pay when lodging an appeal in the EAT and there is no current suggestion of a separate fee for the hearing. 

The proposals are centred on three key principles – affordability, proportionality and simplicity. There will be some limited exemptions to the fee and some will also be supported by a fee remission scheme, if they cannot afford the cost. Should the consultation result in the reintroduction of fees, these could come into force from November 2024. 

This is also a move away from the 2017 Supreme Court decision, which ruled that the former system in which fees were payable, was unlawful. 

Do you think bringing back a fee system is the right thing to do? Have your say here.