The reintroduction of employment tribunal fees. How did we get here?
IER resources to help understand the history of access to justice for workers
There are a few IER resources that will be helpful to people trying to understand the history behind employment tribunal fees. First, How we can build on Unison’s tribunal fees success?, written in the immediate aftermath of Unison’s victory in the Supreme Court in 2017 & how we build on it:
Secondly, this Easy Guide to Access to Justice tracks the weakening of workers’ access to justice since 2010, including the government’s unlawful imposition of tribunal fees and includes a timeline up to 2017 & the Supreme Court’s decision:
Then there are two IER publications that deal with the tribunal reforms and access to justice more generally. The first was written by David Renton and Anna Macey back in 2013, Justice Deferred: a critical guide to the Coalition’s employment tribunal reforms, when the proposals first found their way onto the statute book:
Later, in 2020, Andrew Moretta wrote a mythbuster, on access to justice, Access to Justice: Exposing the Myths, including sections on the introduction of fees, cuts to legal aid and the closure of many law centres.
Both of these important publications are free to IER subscribers. You can find details here.
Related news
Ministers’ decision to reintroduce tribunal fees criticised by lawyers, unions and rights groups
Nearly 50 organisations including the TUC, Citizens Advice, Joseph Rowntree Foundation & Maternity Action call on government to reconsider its plans
Government issue draft code of practice on dismissal and re-engagement
Guidance intended to tackle the use of controversial 'fire and rehire' practices.
Employment tribunal fees “put a hurdle in front of workers seeking justice”, says TUC
Union body says fees will allow “bad bosses” to “ride roughshod over staff”
