National Employment Tribunal User Group (E&W)

The minutes of the Employment Tribunal national and regional user group meeting for England and Wales held on 13 September 2021 are now available here. 

Key points:-

• all 19 new salaried judges have now been announced (there is a list at para 4.1), equivalent to 15.7 full time posts. The recruitment exercise had been to fill 25 FTE vacancies, but there were insufficient suitable candidates. A separate recruitment exercise for 50 fee-paid judges in fact resulted in the appointment of 150 suitable candidates.
• new recruitment exercises for 50 fee-paid (note: this has now closed) and 50 salaried (note: this opened today) judges have been launched.
• the ‘virtual region’ has now launched, with early data suggesting hundreds of hearings were going ahead by this mechanism which would otherwise have been postponed.
• details of listing periods are set out at para 4.8. Most regions are listing 3+ day hearings in the second half of 2022; however London East, London South and London NorthWest are now listing 3+ day hearings in 2023. No region is yet ‘routinely’ listing cases for 2024. Note that does not factor in the newly appointed judges, which may result in some cases being brought forward.
• the Document Upload Centre is now up and running in all regions, although some regions are not using it at full capacity
• London Central Employment Tribunal reported the telephones are now being answered and the backlog of email correspondence is being reduced, so things are heading in the right direction.
• the President reminded users that a (say) five day listing does not mean five days for evidence and submissions. It is five days for the tribunal to dispose of the whole case, meaning that time has to be factored in for pre-reading, deliberations and judgment.
• in response to a question, the President stated it was his understanding that ET3s can be submitted by email under rule 85, and that the HMCTS information issued to Respondents (saying ET3s can only be submitted by post or via the online form) appeared to be wrong. However, the issue has not been judicially determined and the President was expressing a personal view on the correct construction of rule 85, not a judicial one.