South of Scotland MP Richard Arkless has this week urged the UK Government to scrap employment tribunal fees in a Westminster Hall debate.
The coalition government introduced mandatory employment tribunal fees in July 2013. These new fees apply to all workers bringing a claim against their employer with the fee amount being determined by the type of claim being made.
It is likely that Clause 37 of the Scotland Bill will devolve the financial arrangements and management of employment law tribunals to Scotland. The Scottish Government have a clear policy to abolish the fees as soon as they have the power to do so.
Commenting, Mr Arkless said:
“These fees are fundamentally unfair and were introduced as part of the relentless austerity agenda pursued by the coalition government. The fees deter workers from bringing a case to be heard and this disempowers employees. The result of the introduction of these fees in Scotland has been a 92% reduction in redundancy claims, an 81% reduction in sex discrimination claims, and a 90% reduction in claims for breaches of work in time regulations.
“The purpose was to reduce the amount of vexatious claims but the reality is that the success rate remains the same. In reality, the policy is deterring genuine claims, particularly from women, minorities and people at the lower end of the income scale.”
Mr Arkless added:
“An employee with a simple claim for being refused time off faces a £160 issue fee and a £230 hearing fee. For a more serious case of discrimination or unfair dismissal, there is a £250 issue fee and a whopping £950 hearing fee. God forbid you would ever have to appeal as it would cost £1600 in court fees on top of what has already been paid. Faced with these fees people being discriminated against or unfairly dismissed are just not bothering to fight.
“It is clear that the Government are trying to use a litigious tactic to pile cost pressure on claimants who, ordinarily, just want their grievances heard. Access to justice is being denied through austerity – it is a disgraceful course of action that disproportionately affects women, minorities and those at the lower end of the income scale.
“The Scottish Government is committed to abolishing these fees as soon as they are properly devolved under the new Scotland Bill.
“Even if they are devolved properly to Scotland, we still urge the scrapping UK wide. If they are scrapped UK wide there would be an uplift to Scotland’s budget meaning we could use that to fund the scrapping in Scotland.
“I was very disappointed at the debate that the UK Government would not commit to consider the scrapping of the fees.”
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