It has not yet been agreed how much the fee will be and talks are due to commence in November to work out some of the finer points. Clearly there is much up for discussion here, and there is likely to be a lot of uproar in particular from the unions who might deem this to be discrimination of the poor and a help to the employers who wish to get away with mistreating their employees. In view of this it is proposed that help be available for those on lower incomes wishing to make a claim.
The Chancellor also confirmed that the qualifying period for a claim for unfair dismissal will be at least two years thus confirming the leaked report from the previous week. Taking a pro business view he went on to say "We respect the right of those who spent their whole lives building up a business, not to see that achievement destroyed by a vexatious appeal to an employment tribunal. So we are now going to make it much less risky for businesses to hire people."
It is important not to just view this as good news for the employers, however, last year there were 236,000 cases of unfair dismissals and it is this area in which the government wants to ease the pressure on the courts and employers. Crucially, in cases of discrimination there will remain the immediate right to take action. The idea behind the new measure is to help employers to feel more confident in employing individuals. Perhaps this is of more importance due to the increased rights now given to agency staff as well. In this respect it is about getting the balance right.
Many people will argue that this is a measure in favour of businesses and it puts workers at a greater disadvantage. Britain has always tried to encourage entrepreneurialism and to that end small and medium businesses take up the vast amount of companies registered in the UK. So one must also remember that these employers need help perhaps just as much as the employees themselves do.
This is good news for the taxpayer also who bore a cost of more than £84 million pounds in 2010/11 for running employment tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal in England, Wales and Scotland, according to the Ministry of Justice. Further statistics showed that of the claims that were lodged less than 20% of them resulted in a full hearing. Almost 40% of applicants withdrew their cases, but employers still had to pay legal fees in preparing a defence. More than 40% settled out of court and there was no record of how much applicants settled for. Apart from the fact that this measure will help cut costs for employers and the tax payer it might also make it easier to obtain justice at a more expedient pace, which is one of the ultimate aims of our court system.