Newsflash: Tribunal fees – review

What do we already know?

In our February 2015 Newsletter Government reforms: Tribunal fees – under review we updated you that the then Business Secretary, Vince Cable, had launched a review of the impact of Tribunal fees.

What’s new?

Ex-Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has now announced the findings of the above review. According to Vince Cable, Business Department officials have found that the total number of Tribunal claims fell by almost 70%, from 340,000 in the first quarter of the 2013-2014 financial year, to just over 110,000 in the third quarter of 2014-2015. In addition, sex discrimination claims were down by 82% from 21,000 to 3,500 over the same period, while the number of equal pay cases dropped by 72% from almost 27,000 to 7,500.

Vince Cable stated that the decision to introduce fees in Tribunals was “a very bad move and should be reversed” and “it is highly suggestive that the fees are discouraging people, particularly low paid women, from pursuing their rights”.

However, as Vince Cable is no longer an MP and not in Government it is unlikely that this review will now have much of an impact on the future of Tribunal fees.