On 29 July 2013 the Government implemented a new fee structure into the Employment Tribunal system whereby both employees and employers will have to pay a fee to issue a claim and to have their case heard at hearing.

From this date, all Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal claims will be liable to pay a fee or provide an application for fee remission against that fee under the HM Courts & Tribunals Service remissions scheme.

The proposed new fee structure is as follows: –

• Type A claims will generally be claims for monies due on termination of employment, e.g. unpaid wages, payment in lieu of notice, redundancy payments.
• Type B claims will include unfair dismissal, discrimination, equal pay and whistle blowing claims.
• Other fees will apply to specific applications such as reconsideration of a Judgment.
• To appeal a Judgment, Decision or Order of the Employment Tribunal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal the issue fee will be £400 and the hearing fee will be £1,200.
• Where there is a single Claimant:

Where there are multiple Claimants

Application fees: 

Separate fees payable where certain applications, for example:

Application for judicial mediation – £600

Application to dismiss a claim following settlement or withdrawal – £60

Application for review of Tribunal decision or judgment – £100 (Type A Claims) £350 (Type B Claims).

Employment Appeal Tribunal fees: 

It is recognised that there may be certain Claimants that cannot afford to pay all or part of the fees. Consequently, there will be a system in place where Claimants may be entitled to a full remission (i.e. no fee will be payable) or part remission (i.e. only a contribution towards the fee will be payable) depending on their income. Under this system there are three types of remission available.

Remission Type 1

No fee is payable by the Claimant where they have no savings or only a small amount of savings and receive one of the following benefits:

Income support

Income-based jobseeker’s allowance

Pension Credit (guarantee credit)

Income-related employment and support allowance

Universal Credit (if you’re earning less than £6,000 per year

You should complete from EX160 (“Apply for help with fees”) and send it to the Central Tribunal Office together with a letter proving your entitlement to one of the benefits listed above with your Tribunal claim form. It is best practice to do this as early as possible so you have time, before the time limit expires, to deal with any problems that occur.

Remission Type 2

No fee is payable by the Claimant if their gross annual income and that of their partner (if they are a couple) is not more than the following amounts:

Where the Claimant has two or more children, the amount of gross annual income for the purpose of this remission is the amount stated in the table above for two children plus a further £2,930 for each additional child.

Remission Type 3

This remission will provide either a full remission (as in Remission 1 and 2 above) or a part remission based on an income and expenditure means test to calculate the Claimant’s (and, if applicable, their partner’s) monthly disposable income.

As part of the income and expenditure means test, there are three fixed allowances that the Claimant may take into account (where applicable) when calculating disposable income.

These are detailed in the table below.

Partner:                                                £159 a month

Dependant Children :                       £244 a month per child

General Living Expenses:                £315 a month

No fee will be payable by the Claimant if the monthly disposable income is £50 or less.

Where monthly disposable income is more than £50 but no more than £210, one quarter of every £10 of the Claimant’s monthly disposable monthly income is payable, up to a maximum of £50.

Where monthly disposable income is more than £250, £50 plus one-half of every £10 over £200 of the party’s monthly disposable income is payable.

As with Remission Types 1 and 2, you will need to complete the from EX160 (“Apply for help with fees”) and send it to the Central Tribunal Office together the require proof for your income and savings. Again, it is best practice to do this as early as possible so you have time, before the time limit expires, to deal with any problems that occur.