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Resolving Workplace Disputes (Gibbons Review)

At the end of 2006, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) asked Michael Gibbons to look at ways of improving and simplifying employment dispute resolution, to make the system work better for employers and employees.

Gibbons, who is a member of the Better Regulation Commission, looked at all aspects of the system, including:

• the existing legal requirements
• how employment tribunals work
• possible new initiatives to help resolve disputes at an earlier stage.

What did the review recommend?

The review set three key objectives for the Government, and recommended a series of measures to help achieve each one. The three objectives were to:

• support employers and employees to resolve more disputes in the workplace
• actively assist employers and employees to resolve disputes that have not been resolved in the workplace
• make the employment tribunal system simpler and cheaper for users and government.

Implementing the recommendations

The Government accepted the recommendations of the Gibbons Review, and published a consultation document setting out measures to take them forward. The consultation ended in June 2007, after receiving over 400 responses.

The implementation of the Gibbons Review is expected to save businesses in the region of £185m per year – of which £132m will be from administrative burdens. It should also save employees around £4m a year.

The Government will need to bring in new primary legislation to achieve these savings and has introduced an Employment Bill, which will be debated in the 2007-2008 Parliamentary session.

Read the Gibbons Review in full.