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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

mfg Solicitors—Brian Hession

mfg Solicitors—Brian Hession

Birmingham commercial property team bolstered by partner hire

STEP—Sara Morgan

STEP—Sara Morgan

Fieldfisher director re-elected as deputy chair of England Wales committee

Osborne Clarke—Andrew Eaton

Osborne Clarke—Andrew Eaton

Restructuring and insolvency expert joins as partner

NEWS
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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