Amendments to the employment tribunal rules of procedure

Reforms to the rules of procedure for employment tribunals were given effect by the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2001 SI 2001 No. 1171 and the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2001 SI 2001 No. 1170. These Regulations were laid on 27 March 2001 and came into effect on 16 July 2001.

Note: The commencement date for the new regulations was formerly 18 April but was put back to 16 July to allow more time for users to understand the changes. It should be noted that the 18 April date stated in the attached copies of the regulations has been altered by amending orders laid on 12 April and should be read as 16 July.

The Regulations re-enact the 1993 Regulations with amendments. They apply to all proceedings to which they relate, irrespective of when they were commenced. The main changes are given below.

Case management/measures to deter and weed out unmeritorious cases

• New Regulation 10 inserts an overriding objective into the rules of procedure to enable tribunals to deal with cases justly. Dealing with cases justly includes, so far as practicable: ensuring the parties are dealt with equally, saving expense, acting in proportion with the complexity of the case, and dealing with cases fairly and expeditiously. The parties have a duty to assist the tribunal in furthering the overriding objective.

• Case management powers are set out in rule 4 of Schedule 1 which is a consolidation and simplification of rules 4 and 16 of Schedule 1 to the 1993 Regulations. Paragraph (3) is new and provides that directions may relate in particular to evidence, including witness statements. Failure to comply with a direction may result in an award of costs under rule 14(1)(a) or the striking out of the whole or part of an application or notice of appearance, and, where appropriate, a respondent being debarred from defending altogether.

• In rule 7(4) of Schedule 1 (prehearing review), the maximum amount of the deposit which may be imposed following a pre-hearing review has been increased from £150 to £500.

• Rule 14(1) of Schedule 1 (costs) is amended to make it clear that the unreasonable behaviour of a party’s representative may be taken into account when awarding costs against that party.

• The tribunal is also now under a duty to consider an award of costs in the circumstances described in rule 14(1), including where proceedings which have no reasonable prospect of success have been pursued.

• Rule 14(3) increases from £500 to £10,000 the maximum amount of costs which a tribunal may award without an assessment of costs.

• In rule 15(2) of Schedule 1 (miscellaneous powers), the term "frivolous has been replaced with "misconceived" (defined in Regulation 2(2) and "unreasonable" in sub-paragraphs (c) and (d) respectively. Those paragraphs permit the tribunals to strike out applications or notices of appearance in certain circumstances.