Changes to unfair dismissal claims

Employees with cases that are seen to have little prospect of winning will also be required to pay a deposit of £1,000 instead of £500, as a deterrent.

Witness statements will be “taken as read” rather than read out loud, meaning it will be difficult to bring up new evidence at a hearing. And instead of a panel of three people, including those with employer and employee experience, em-ployment tribunals will be heard by only one judge.

The new processes will allow less room for delays and postponements.

Matt Jenkins, an employment lawyer with Morgan Cole, said: “These changes will be very helpful for licensees because many of my clients see a lot of spurious claims made by employees.”

However, he warned that licensees need to be better prepared: “They will need to do more work and possibly invest more money ahead of a case because there will not be any time to raise new evidence at the hearing. It will all need to be documented in the witness statement.”

Licensees will also now be able to dismiss underperforming staff within two years without worrying about unfair ordinary dismissal claims from 6 April. Staff who started before then will still only have to work one year of continuous service. This does not apply to discrimination claims.

In addition the Government plans to introduce a fee for employees wanting to put forward a case for an employment tribunal. Currently employees only need to fill in a form. It is proposed that they will have to pay £250 to highlight a case and £1,000 before the hearing.

Other changes to keep an eye on

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) for adults will rise 11p to £6.19 per hour from 1 October, but rates for younger workers have been frozen. Ministers have accepted proposals from the Low Pay Commission, which means that the NMW for 18 to 20-year-olds will stay at £4.98 and for 16 and 17-year-olds it will remain at £3.68.

For apprentices, the rate will increase 5p to £2.65. April also sees the annual increase in statutory payments, including sick pay, which increases from £81.60 to £85.85 per week, and the statutory maternity, paternity and adoption rate, which will rise from £128.73 a week to £135.45 (or 90% of normal weekly earnings if lower).