LP ET Fees Member Factsheet A5 1013 06/11/2013 13:25 Page 2 Employment Cases Employment Tribunal Fees Factsheet LP ET Fees Member Factsheet A5 1013 06/11/2013 13:25 Page 3 1 Legal Plus Factsheet: Employment Tribunal Fees * What are they? All new claims to an employment tribunal made in England, Wales & Scotland after 29 July 2013 will attract a fee. The initial fee to issue the claim is: Type A Type B £160 £250 The fee to proceed to a hearing is: *Note that ET Fees do not apply in Northern Ireland Type A Type B There are two stages of fees: If there is more than one type of claim on the claim form, only one fee is paid but it will be for the highest level of claim being made. 1. When the claim is issued (sent to the tribunal). 2. When the claim proceeds to a main hearing. The amount of the fee depends upon the type of claim. There are two levels: Type A claims – unlawful deductions; redundancy pay; holiday pay; etc. Type B claims – unfair dismissal; discrimination; and other more complex claims. A list of which claims are A and which are B can be found on the Justice website at http://www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/ employment/claims/jurisdiction £230 £950 For example, two claims are being made – one for unpaid wages, and another for discrimination. The highest level of claim is discrimination, which is a type B claim. The issue fee is therefore £250, and the hearing fee is £950. There are additional fees including: 1. Asking the tribunal to reconsider a decision – £100 (Type A); £350 (Type B). 2. Appealing to the EAT – £400 to issue the claim; £1200 hearing fee (no matter what type of claim). Multiple claims (those with more than one claimant, eg protective award claims) attract higher fees depending on the number of claimants. LP ET Fees Member Factsheet A5 1013 06/11/2013 13:25 Page 4 Legal Plus Employment Cases Employment Tribunal Fees Factsheet Can you get the fee back? If the claim is settled, there is no automatic right to have the fee reimbursed. Reimbursment of any fees paid must therefore be part of any settlement agreement. If the claim is withdrawn before a hearing but after the hearing fee has been paid, there will be no refund of the fee by the tribunal (however, it may be part of a negotiated settlement with the other side). If the claim is successful at a tribunal hearing, there is no automatic right for the fee to be reimbursed but judges have a discretion to order the losing party to re-pay the fee to the successful party. 1. Disposable Capital Test Examples of relevant disposable capital include: Any capital held in a savings account eg ISAs; bonds etc. A redundancy payment. Stocks and shares; Unit trusts; derivatives etc. Second homes. Trust funds (where accessible). Any disposable capital held outside the UK. Excluded from disposable capital are: Bereavement payments. What if you cannot afford to pay? For those who might not be able to afford to pay, the civil courts remission system has been extended to the employment tribunal system. Remission is where you will not have to pay all or part of the fee because you satisfy certain financial criteria. Form EX160A explains the remission system in full and can be downloaded from the Justice website. Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme payments. First homes. Contents of homes (eg furniture, paintings etc). Independent living fund. Insurance contracts (eg cash value of a life assurance policy). Jobseeker’s Back to Work Bonus. Lump sum payments made on illness, disability or death from insurance policies. Each fee will need a separate application for remission eg one for the issue fee; and another for the hearing fee. Medical negligence or personal injury awards. The remission system has a two stage test. Value of pension schemes. 1. Whether you (and your partner’s) disposable capital is below a certain level. Student loans or student grants. 2. Whether you (and your partner’s) gross monthly income is below a certain level. Unfair dismissal awards. Vehicles which if sold would leave you or your partner without transport. The test assesses your household disposable capital against the levels of fee payable (a table sets out the level of fee against the level of disposable capital on form EX160A at page 16). 2 LP ET Fees Member Factsheet A5 1013 06/11/2013 13:25 Page 5 3 For example, where the court fee is up to £1000, and household disposable capital is above £3000 no remission is available and the full fee must be paid. To pass the disposable capital test your capital must be below £3000, then you may be eligible for remission if you then pass the Gross Annual Income Test. Remission 2. A full or part remission based on your gross monthly income. You will need to add up all the income you receive in a month and if it is below a certain level, set out in threshold table below, you will receive a full remission. Gross Monthly Income With: Single Couple No children £1085 £1245 One child £1330 £1490 Two children For those aged 61 and over, disposable capital must be less than £16,000 to pass the disposable capital test. £1575 £1735 2. Gross Monthly Income Test There are two tests for remission: £245 for each additional child Remission 1. A full remission is available if you are in receipt of one of the following means tested benefits: Income based Job seeker’s Allowance. If your income is more than the threshold above but equal to or below the threshold below, you will receive a partial remission. Income related Employment and Support allowance. Gross Monthly Income With: Single Couple Income Support. No children £5085 £5245 Universal Credit with gross annual earnings below £6000. One child £5330 £5490 Two children £5575 £5735 State Pension Credit guarantee credit. £245 for each additional child Scottish Civil Legal Aid. You must send supporting evidence to the tribunal with your remission application form. The necessary evidence is explained more fully in form EX160A. The tribunal must be sent original and official evidence of your entitlement, eg a letter from the DWP or benefit entitlement notice dated within the last month. The tribunal must be provided with evidence of your monthly income before they will grant remission. You will therefore have to send your last month’s payslip no more than six weeks old. You must also send your last three months’ bank statements (if you use online banking you can print these off for the tribunal) and explain any other income fully and with supporting evidence (eg Paypal payments received through Ebay). LP ET Fees Member Factsheet A5 1013 06/11/2013 13:25 Page 6 Legal Plus Employment Cases Employment Tribunal Fees Factsheet You must ask the tribunal to return your original documents or they will not be returned to you. You should always ask for them back as you may need them for a future remission application. It’s worthwhile for everyone to apply for remission and a requirement of our legal assistance rules. We have to protect our member’s money and so will only pay fees where remission has not been granted and they become payable. You should apply for every remission test to maximise your chances of qualifying under one of them. Ignore the remission form when it says that you should skip a section, as you may be rejected under one test but qualify under another test. Why you should be a member of Usdaw Being a member of Usdaw, means that the Union will cover any fee, by way of an advance, that becomes payable in a claim that we are supporting. It is your responsibility to submit the ET1 claim form within the time limits and you must submit a fully completed remission application (with supporting documents) at the same time. Any fee we have advanced will become repayable in a successful claim which we will seek to recover from the other side where possible, including when negotiating a settlement or at a tribunal hearing. How to apply for representation from Usdaw If you think you have an employment claim, you should contact your Area Organiser or local office for a Member Pack as soon as possible. You must complete the Member Pack, sign the advance agreement and relevant sections and return it to your local office. Do not send this to the tribunal – it is an application to Usdaw to assist you in your claim. This will then be checked and sent to the Union’s legal department for a decision on whether or not we will support the claim. If you do not complete the Member Pack properly it will be returned to you. You should have a decision on representation within 20 days of you returning the pack to your local office. If assistance is granted, you will be told who is representing you and any fee that becomes payable will be covered by the Union. We will not pay tribunal fees if we have not granted assistance. 4 LP ET Fees Member Factsheet A5 1013 06/11/2013 13:25 Page 7 5 How to make a claim You must submit an ET1 form to the tribunal along with a completed remission form and supporting documents. Do not send the original form to us – only send us a copy if you can. You must ensure that your claim reaches the tribunal within the time limit. For example, in an unfair dismissal claim this is three months less a day from the date of your dismissal. There are three ways you can issue your claim: 1. Online through the Justice Website. 2. By post to the Central Office Tribunal. For England & Wales: Employment Tribunal Central Office (England & Wales) PO Box 10218 Leicester LE1 8EG There is a different address for Scotland: Employment Tribunals Central Office (Scotland) PO Box 27105 Glasgow G2 9JR 3. By handing in a completed ET1 form in person at one of the designated regional offices. You should avoid this method unless absolutely necessary and should call the tribunal helpline on 0845 795 9775 to find out which is your nearest designated tribunal. Online The new system is designed to encourage people to make online applications. A new employment claim can be made through the Justice website at the following address: http://www.justice.gov.uk/ tribunals/employment/claims If you make your claim online you can indicate that you will make a remission application by ticking a box. However this is not the remission application itself. Currently, the online ET1 form is misleading in that it does not then direct you to the remission application which is on form EX160A. Form EX160A ‘Court and Tribunal Fees: Do I have to pay them?’ includes the application form for remission which you must complete to apply for remission. Form EX160A must be completed and sent with supporting documents to the Leicester (or Glasgow) tribunal. If it is not received within a certain timeframe, a demand for payment of the issue fee will be made, with a short deadline for payment. If you fail to send your remission application to the tribunal we will not pay any resulting fee. If you do not tick the box to indicate you will make a remission application, a fee will be demanded at the submission of the form, which you must pay by credit or debit card. LP ET Fees Member Factsheet A5 1013 06/11/2013 13:25 Page 8 Legal Plus Employment Cases Employment Tribunal Fees Factsheet By post/in person To make your claim by post, you must print off a copy of the ET1 form (which you can download from the Justice website). The remission application form EX160A, and supporting documents, must be sent with the completed ET1 claim form to the Leicester or Glasgow tribunal or handed in to a designated regional tribunal. At present, the form directs you to complete just one of the remission tests. Ignore this! You should complete each test to maximise your chances of getting remission. For instance, you may be rejected under the benefit test but qualify under the income test, so complete all the remission tests. If you do not submit a remission form with your ET1 you will be expected to pay a fee and the Union will not pay this for you. Join Usdaw today Unless you are in the Union, you will likely have to pay fees personally to pursue an employment tribunal claim. The high fees will price most people out of making claims and will mean that you will not be able to seek justice through the tribunal system. If you join Usdaw you can be assured that if you have a claim that we think has reasonable prospects of success, we will support your claim and pay any fee that becomes payable, providing that you have applied for remission. If you are not already a member, to enjoy the great benefits of Legal Plus join Usdaw today! Visit www.usdaw.org.uk/join 6 LP ET Fees Member Factsheet A5 1013 06/11/2013 13:25 Page 1 Scan here to view all of the latest Legal Plus news and resources ✝ www.usdaw.org.uk/legalplus ✝ to scan the code, download a QR reader app from your app store. A charge may be applied by your network provider. Improving workers’ lives – Winning for members Helpline 0845 60 60 640 * www.usdaw.org.uk/legalplus Central Office: 188 Wilmslow Road, Manchester M14 6LJ November 2013 calls charged at local rate