For those that follow me on Twitter the news that Unison failed in its judicial review of Employment Tribunal fees will by now be old news.  Unison have stated that they intend to appeal so this may not be the end of the headlines over the ET fees.

Having now read the Judgment it is clear that Unison produced figures to show a huge reduction in the number of claims before the ET.  We await the release of official statistics for the Employment Tribunal for the last quarter of 2013 to see if these do indeed reflect reality.  The Court felt in making its decision that the challenge had been premature and that it was to early to assess the impact that fees has had on the ET system.  The Court made it clear that if the figures stated by Unison of reductions of up to 88%, depending on the locality and type of claim, were correct then the Government was under a duty to review the matter and there was an expectation that the system would be changed without the need for further litigation.