Costs awards

The government has announced that it is to amend the law to make it clear that tribunals can take account of an individual's ability to pay when making costs awards (an award that one side should pay the other side's legal costs). The change was needed following a controversial EAT ruling earlier this year (Kovacs v Queen Mary and Westfield College [2002] Industrial Relations Law Reports 414). In that case the unsuccessful claimant, in an unfair dismissal and discrimination claim, had more than £60,000 in costs awarded against her and was unable to pay.