Adherence to official guidance

Case 6: The facts

After Mr Birch and three colleagues were unfairly dismissed, they claimed loss of pension as part of their compensation claims.

A tribunal rejected their calculations of the amount of pension they had lost, solely on the basis that they had not used the approaches set out in the employment tribunal guidance booklet.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the tribunal's first duty was to consider whether the claimant had provided credible evidence to enable a fair and equitable assessment of pension loss. Although the guidance booklet could be used for this purpose, there was no obligation on a claimant to do so if they provided other evidence.

Port of Tilbury (London) Ltd v Birch and others [2005] IRLR 92