Tribunal Fees Challenge Appeal Gets Go Ahead

Unison has been given permission to appeal the High Court’s rejection of its challenge to employment tribunal fees.

Unison is arguing that tribunal fees, which were introduced in June last year, create a barrier to enforcing employment rights. The High Court rejected the challenge in February this year, as it considered it too early to assess the impact of fees on the number of employment tribunal claims being issued. 

Unison has indicated that it will be asking the Court of Appeal to consider the latest employment tribunal statistics which revealed a 79% drop in the number of claims issued between October and December 2013 compared with the same period the previous year. 

The next set of employment tribunal figures, for claims lodged between January and March 2014, is expected to be published in June and it will be interesting to see whether they support Unison's argument in this case.