I commend this blog post by Richard Dunstan ( @wonkypolicywonk ) on Tribunal fees:
In summary:
- It is the fall in individual claims that we should pay attention to.
- It is impossible to assess the performance of the fee remission system, because the system was not designed with the ability to capture data. Attempts to seek further information via Freedom of Information have failed as the Ministry of Justice states that to comply with the request would exceed the FOI costs cap.
Tribunal fees are controversial. UNISON’s initial judicial review failed in part because it was suggested that the JR was brought too early. This does not sit well with the general public law principle that you must bring any JR as soon as possible. However, the Judgment itself does leave the door open to further challenge if the statistics were to remain the same. It would appear that the statistics have remained the same. In any event, UNISON are pursuing the JR to the Court of Appeal.
