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02 December 2011 / Stephen Levinson
Issue: 7492 / Categories: Opinion , Tribunals , Employment
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Playing with perceptions

Stephen Levinson puts Vince Cable’s new regime for employment tribunals under the spotlight

The new regime for employment tribunals revealed by the Business Secretary is a product of a variety of motives. Politics and money were the principal drivers and their effect will be analysed in this article, which will suggest that while their overall impact is mixed some will cause long-term damage to a system that has many merits as well as recognised flaws.

Good sense

First, it has to be recognised that some very welcome changes are to be made. The proposals for encouraging early conciliation and mediation, streamlining compromise agreements and redrafting s147 Equality Act 2010 all make sense and are to be encouraged. In addition rewriting the whistle blowing laws to prevent employees bringing claims based on complaints about breaches of their own contracts is long overdue. Also on the list of sensible ideas is the fundamental review of tribunal rules to be carried out by Mr Justice Underhill; and the removal of some of the absurdities of

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

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A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
The winners of the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2026 have now been announced, marking another outstanding celebration of excellence, innovation, and impact across the legal profession
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
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