ARTICLE BY SARAH HARDING
In July 2017 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Tribunal fees are unlawful. Since the official refund process started in October 2017 only 21,800 applications have been received paying out a total of £17m.
This means that there is still around £16m left for the Government to pay back to those who have paid for Tribunal fees.
Why have fees been ruled unlawful?
Since July 2013, all employees (“Claimants”) pursuing an Employment Tribunal case have had to pay both an Issue Fee (up to £250) and a Hearing Fee (up to £950) before their case is considered by an Employment Judge. Unless the Tribunal Fees are paid on time, the Claimant would likely find that their case is rejected by the Tribunal.
Since the introduction of these fees, the Tribunal have seen a 70% drop in the number of Claimants pursuing their employment claims as the fees often act as a discouragement to Claimants who often find themselves suffering financially (as they are unemployed) and are therefore unable to pay the fees to progress the matter – denying them the right to have their case heard before a Judge.
The judgment marks the ends of a drawn-out battle by Unison to overturn the Tribunal fees on the basis that the imposition of these fees amounted to indirect discrimination against women and limits access to justice under common law and EU law.
Can I claim my fees back?
Anyone who paid Tribunal hearing fees between July 2013 and July 2017 can claim their fees back. This includes if the fees were paid on your behalf by a solicitor or Third party and deducted from your compensation awarded. If you are entitled to a refund you will also receive .05% interest accruing from the date the fee was paid to the date refund was made.
Do I still have time to claim my refund?
There is no deadline date as to when the refunds will stop.
Does this service cost me and how simple is the process?
The process is not complicated however; there might be several challenges. There is likely to be a trace of all fees paid by the Claimants, but it is as simple as just reimbursing those fees.
Where a Claimant won their case, in most situations, the losing party would be ordered to pay the cost of the Tribunal fees to the Claimant as part of the settlement. If all fees are merely paid back to all Claimants, there will be dual refund in situations where the losing party has previously been ordered to make that payment.
As many employers do not actually pay the amounts ordered, it is not straight forward for the Tribunal to check the records and to refund the fees to the employer instead.
Like any fair refunds system, need to have the means for gathering information from both parties in order to assess where a refund is due. We charge a one-off payment of £35 + VAT (£42). However, this fee is not paid upfront and will be deducted from any refund made by the court.
We are dedicated to helping you reclaim what is rightfully yours. We are happy to speak to you about your historic employment tribunal case, together with a no-commitment review of your file.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
If you wish to discuss any further information in regards to this or to express your interest please do not hesitate to contact us through one of the ways on this page, call us 0113 200 9720, or email us at enquiries@oakwoodsolicitors.co.uk.
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