Skip to content
Small Business UK

Small Business UK

Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

  • Subscribe
  • Login
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • RSS
  • Starting
    • Start a New Business
      • Setting up your business
      • Getting your business going
    • Advice
    • Funding
    • Ideas & planning
    • Investing in a franchise
    • Setting up a company
    • Sole trader
    • Success stories
    • Work life balance
  • Financing
    • Accounts & tax
    • Alternative finance
      • Crowdfunding for business
    • Banking
    • Business loans
    • Grants
    • Funding your small business
    • Payroll
  • Running
    • Business management
    • Buying and selling a company
    • Employing & managing staff
    • Export & import
    • Finding and selling to customers
    • Insurance
    • Masterclass Series
    • International business
    • Legal advice
    • Marketing
    • Office & home working
    • Getting online
    • Technology
    • Taking payments
    • Productivity
    • Smart Energy GB
  • News
    • Management
    • Opportunities
    • Outlook
    • Partner content
  • Podcast
  • Guides
    • Guides
    • Series
  • Business Tools
    • Join our membership
    • Get small business funding
    • Making Tax Digital
    • Website checker
  • Starting
    • Start a New Business
      • Setting up your business
      • Getting your business going
    • Advice
    • Funding
    • Ideas & planning
    • Investing in a franchise
    • Setting up a company
    • Sole trader
    • Success stories
    • Work life balance
  • Financing
    • Accounts & tax
    • Alternative finance
      • Crowdfunding for business
    • Banking
    • Business loans
    • Grants
    • Funding your small business
    • Payroll
  • Running
    • Business management
    • Buying and selling a company
    • Employing & managing staff
    • Export & import
    • Finding and selling to customers
    • Insurance
    • Masterclass Series
    • International business
    • Legal advice
    • Marketing
    • Office & home working
    • Getting online
    • Technology
    • Taking payments
    • Productivity
    • Smart Energy GB
  • News
    • Management
    • Opportunities
    • Outlook
    • Partner content
  • Podcast
  • Guides
    • Guides
    • Series
  • Business Tools
    • Join our membership
    • Get small business funding
    • Making Tax Digital
    • Website checker
  • Subscribe
  • Login
Home » Running a Business » Legal advice » Employment tribunal: How to navigate the process

Employment tribunal: How to navigate the process

Employees no longer need to pay a fee in order to make an employment tribunal claim

Ben Lobelby Ben Lobel18 June 2018

For employers and particularly SMEs, there is still some cause for concern and a need for increased awareness around the risks when dismissing individuals, Andy Shettle argues.

Early last year the Supreme Court ruled that employment tribunal fees were unlawful and prevented access to justice. This meant that employees would no longer need to pay a fee in order to make an employment tribunal claim. Additionally it was ruled that the government would refund all claimants who had previously paid the fee – amounting to £27 million for cases around unfair dismissal.

In light of the new ruling, the Ministry of Justice has recently released figures which show that the number of single claims lodged at employment tribunals increased by a remarkable 90 per cent between October to December 2017, when compared to the same quarter in 2016. For most, removing the cost has come as a great relief, as now there is no barrier to submitting a claim if employees feel they’ve been treated unfairly at work. However, for employers and particularly SMEs there is still some cause for concern and a need for increased awareness around the risks when dismissing individuals.

The changing employment landscape

We’ve seen the employment landscape change dramatically over the past year and the use of the gig economy is still an unknown entity in terms of employment rights. More recently, a dispute between Pimlico Plumbers and one of its former engineers went to the Supreme Court over the entitlements of the ‘casual worker’. The employee won in a landmark case for the gig economy and the decision has the potential to impact the rights of many people classified as independent contractors across the UK, including those at gig economy firms such as Uber and Deliveroo. Additionally it’s important to point out that freelance workers now account for 15 per cent of the UK workforce and The Office of National Statistics suggests it’s a trend which is set to grow.

For many small businesses, seasonal and part-time workers are a resourceful asset which affords a good way to remain agile, while quickly expanding the workforce to meet demand. With recent pressure on organisations to replace zero-hour contracts, we’re seeing a shift towards the use of employment contracts. The move provides ‘casual workers’ with an employee status and an entitlement to claim for unfair dismissal, redundancy payments, maternity pay and leave. With this in mind many SMEs will need to ensure that employee relations cases are well documented, managed effectively and policies adhered to.

The removal of the tribunal fee does make it easier for claims to be made and SMEs can often find the process cripplingly expensive and prolonged – especially when the claim is deemed frivolous. Ultimately employers will need to be mindful of the decisions they make and prepared for the fact that those which prove unpopular could result in legal action.

Developing a culture of conversation

In an ideal world, employment issues should be managed internally or through the ACAS Early Conciliation process, but in some cases employment tribunals are the only remaining medium in which to resolve matters. But it can be expensive, The British Chamber of Commerce estimates that UK businesses face bills of up to £8,500 defending themselves against employment tribunals. While many smaller businesses aren’t afforded the luxury of a HR team focused on claim prevention there are ways to avoid costly employment cases.

For instance, employment contracts and policies are vital documents and it’s important that there is no ambiguity over aspects such as working hours, notice periods, disciplinary and grievance procedures. Having all this information readily to hand ensures that SMEs are clued up on the correct procedures, which minimises the risk of employees successfully challenging actions such as dismissal. Preparing for a tribunal can be extremely time-consuming and is likely to have a large impact on small and medium-sized businesses, so it’s important to regularly review employment policies and keep them centrally stored.

Typically, HR functions in organisations consist of a multitude of spreadsheets and documents. Introducing an online HR system is a good way to track employee relations cases and incorporate policies and procedures. This allows the users to track and monitor time frames ensuring that they’re observed and met. This could in some cases, even reduce the risk of going to an employment tribunal in the first place. Regardless though, it will put a process in place to make it less likely and install a culture to follow HR procedures.

Developing a culture of conversation is of the upmost importance for SMEs; it’s somewhat of a first line defence and a tool which can be used to combat complaints. If employees feel that they can raise concerns without the fear of reprisals, then managers are able to mediate the situation before it escalates into a formal complaint. In the case of employee relations prevention is certainly better than a cure.

Further reading on employment law

  • Employment law areas to watch in 2018

Andy Shettle is chief product officer of ER Tracker at Selenity. 

Tagged: Employment Law, Tribunals
Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel was the editor of SmallBusiness.co.uk from 2010 to 2018. He specialises in writing for start-up and scale-up companies in the areas of finance, marketing and HR. More by Ben Lobel

Related Topics

Employment Law
Tribunals

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Related Stories

Employing & managing staff

Five areas of UK employment law businesses must be aware of

Before taking on any employees, it’s important to grasp the basics of employment law. In this piece, we look at what you need to know

Legal advice

10 employment law changes that you should know about

Kate Palka, employment and commercial solicitor from The Legal Director, talks us through current and future employment law changes

Legal advice

Using an NDA in your small business

NDAs or non-disclosure agreements are becoming increasingly common. When should you use them? And are they even enforceable?

Legal advice

What are the new rules on calculating holiday pay for seasonal workers?

The Harpur Trust v Brazel case has challenged the way that seasonal and part-year worker holiday pay is calculated. What should you do now?

Helping you grow your business is our number one priority, if you would like to take your business to the next step just sign up!

sign up now

Related Stories

Employing & managing staff

Five areas of UK employment law businesses must be aware of

Before taking on any employees, it’s important to grasp the basics of employment law. In this piece, we look at what you need to know

Legal advice

10 employment law changes that you should know about

Kate Palka, employment and commercial solicitor from The Legal Director, talks us through current and future employment law changes

Legal advice

Using an NDA in your small business

NDAs or non-disclosure agreements are becoming increasingly common. When should you use them? And are they even enforceable?

Legal advice

What is the UKCA mark and how does it affect my small business?

We explain the new UKCA mark which has replaced the CE mark for products sold on the market in Great Britain

SmallBusiness.co.uk provides advice and useful guides to UK sole traders and small businesses. Our goal is to help owner managers and entrepreneurs to start, run, grow and succeed in business, helping turn your business idea into a profitable business.

Further Information

  • Contact Details
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Blog
  • About this Website
  • Media Packs
  • Contributor guidelines
  • Small Business Whitepapers

Contact us

  • +44(0) 207 846 1378

Address

  • Stubben Edge
  • 77 Cornhill
  • London
  • EC3V 3QQ