One of the big business stories last week was the ruling by the Supreme Court that the controversial fees for bringing employment tribunal claims are unlawful, a ruling that was hailed as a “massive win for workers” by TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady.
In 2013, the Government introduced the fees with the goal of eliminating frivolous tribunal claims from an individual or group who knew that they would have very little chance of being successful. According to figures provided by the Ministry of Justice, the number of employment tribunal cases in 2012 generally averaged at slightly above 5,000 total cases per month. However, after the ruling in 2013, the total number of cases averaged between 1,500 and 2,000 per month, the highest number being 2,210 in March 2014 – well below the average number in 2012.