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NLJ this week: Will tribunal fee proposals end in embarrassment (again)?

17 May 2024
Issue: 8071 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Employment , Tribunals
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Government proposals to resurrect employment tribunal fees—albeit at a modest rate compared to last time—could spectacularly backfire, ending in a second ‘unlawful’ ruling

In this week’s NLJ, Catrina Smith, Chair of the Legislative and Policy Committee of the Employment Lawyers Association, discusses the potential for a re-run of the high-profile Unison case of 2017.

Smith identifies a multitude of disadvantages for all concerned, not least the fact ‘the government has also acknowledged that the fee scheme will cost more to administer and implement than it will raise’. It didn’t work out well for the government in 2017, so why would ministers try again?

Ultimately, however, the people with most to lose should the proposals go ahead are employees and ex-employees with valid claims should they be deterred from bringing them by this extra financial hurdle.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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