Comment: What employment tribunal changes could mean to schools

Released 16/02/2011

A blog from Chris Cook considers how proposed changes to the Employment Tribunal, which were announced by the government, could impact the education sector

The Government has announced proposals to reform the Employment Tribunal system. The aim of the changes is to ease the strain on small and growing businesses, to avoid them facing costly and sometimes vexatious claims being brought to the Tribunal. Business Secretary, Vince Cable, also believes the reforms will reduce the financial burden on the Employment Tribunal itself.

The main proposal is to increase the qualifying period of service which an employee must attain to be eligible to bring a claim of unfair dismissal before a Tribunal. Currently, an employee must have at least one year's continuous employment to be eligible (subject to certain exceptions). The Government propose extending this to two years.

Other plans under consideration include:

the introduction of a fee for bringing a claim in the Tribunal where currently there is no charge
proposals for unfair dismissal cases to be heard by a single Employment Judge, rather than the current three-person panel system and
the referral of all unfair dismissal cases to ACAS (the conciliation service) for compulsory settlement negotiations prior to the matter being referred to the Tribunal.

The proposals have proved controversial resulting in a range of business and trade union organisations voicing their views on the reforms.

Reducing tribunal claims

The implications of reducing protection for employees by way of eligibility to claim could result in a reduction of Tribunal claims being brought. However, it may simply produce a short-term cut, where claims are in reality postponed for a further year and therefore give a misleading view of Tribunal activity.

Whilst the reforms aim to encourage small businesses to recruit more easily without fear of vexatious claims being made, the proposals could in fact lead to employees bringing ill-conceived claims for discrimination or whistle-blowing (which require no period of qualifying service) and pose potentially greater challenges to employers in the education sector.

Erosion of rights

Critics of the proposals see the reforms as an erosion of employees' rights, giving employers the ability to recruit and dismiss with greater freedom and without fear of claims.

It remains to be seen how the reforms will ultimately be introduced. In the meantime, the Government need to give careful consideration to whether enactment of the changes will actually have the desired effect upon the UK economy and workforce.

Chris Cook is a Solicitor with SA LAW

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