Despite its name, “User Group” in the employment law context doesn’t concern drug or alcohol abuse. User Groups are for employment lawyers who use the employment tribunals.
The Employment Lawyers Association is keen to promote User Group meetings at the employment tribunals. For members of the ELA, mainly barristers and employment solicitors, this trend is particularly welcome as it fosters a better understanding of the system from the viewpoint of judges and tribunal staff. Regional Employment Judge, Vivienne Gay for the London North and West Region has done much to support this both in her own User Group meetings and in a series of articles, “How to get the Best from an Employment Tribunal” published in the ELA Briefing in 2014.
The local East Anglia Region Users’ Group meeting took place at the Huntingdon Law Courts in November 2014. It was attended primarily by Cambridge employment solicitors who listened to Regional Judge Byrne provide a helpful update on tribunal statistics and on recently reported employment cases of interest.
As employment solicitors are well aware, the controversial introduction of employment tribunal fees appears to have led to more than a few claimants being deterred from bringing employment tribunal claims. A widely quoted statistic is that year on year there has been a reduction of more than 75% in tribunal cases. Sadly, the Government’s professed reason for introducing employment tribunal fees has resulted in such a severe reduction in claims overall that the real effect seems to be the denial of justice to many for whom we have no reason to ascribe unreasonable or vexatious motives. It is rather strange if you genuinely do not want to deny individuals legal rights to require them to pay over £1,000 when they have just lost their job.
The employment tribunals have targets for bringing single cases to a hearing within 26 weeks of registration. For the period 1 April 2014 to 31 October 2014 the East Anglia Region achieved 55% against a target of 75%.
Another target, which showed a significant improvement on the previous year for the East Anglia Region, is that written judgements were sent to the parties within four weeks of the hearing in 85% of cases. The Region met its target and should be congratulated for doing so.
Any employment solicitor can tell you from experience of preliminary hearings that the process of employment tribunal hearings being listed (booked and put in a diary) is far from straightforward given the demands on the system and the available resources. The latest statistics for Huntington are that a hearing of two days requires to be booked 13 to 14 weeks in advance. In cases requiring three days, 15 weeks must be allowed. For cases involving five or more days in tribunal, 16 weeks are currently required.
During the open discussion between employment lawyers and Regional Judge Byrne, criticism of the new pre-conciliation process came from employment solicitors representing both claimants and respondents. The success or failure of the pre-conciliation process will undoubtedly become clearer over time.
The reality is that the judicial system is under enormous financial strain. In the case of Huntingdon tribunals there are 16 staff comprising one delivery manager, two team leaders, a personal secretary to the Regional Employment Judge, two audio typists, nine administration staff and one agency temp. Despite recent Government measures, the number of cases appears to be rising. There is much to be done by few people.
Even if there is a change of government in 2015 it is by no means certain that the modest resources available and the substantial reforms recently made to employment law will really meet the needs of our working population. These are gloomy times when judges, tribunal staff, barristers and employment solicitors are doing their best in difficult circumstances.
On a more optimistic note, for legal advice on any aspect of employment law, particularly if you are looking for employment solicitors in Cambridge, call Cambridge Legal on 01223 776200 or email enquiries@cambridgelegal.co.uk and receive a positive and practical response.