A third of successful claimants get nothing

A government-commissioned report — The Payment of Tribunal Awards 2013 Study — shows that a shocking 35% of successful employment tribunal claimants between May and June 2013 were paid nothing by their employer. And 16% received only part of their award.

It often comes as an unpleasant surprise to claimants to find that employment tribunals have no power to enforce the awards they make, including awards as to fees and costs.

Instead, separate enforcement proceedings must be brought in the county court, involving litigants in more cost and anxiety and providing more opportunities for employers to avoid or delay payment.

Responding to the study, employment relations minister Jo Swinson has promised to “clamp down on businesses who fail to pay out” by introducing extra enforcement mechanisms for late payment.

These include fixed penalty notices, “naming and shaming” rogue employers or giving tribunals the power to demand deposits from employers who appear likely to avoid payment. However, this is not a problem of individual “rogue employers”. Instead, these statistics reflect a systemic failing.

This demands more fundamental changes, such as abolishing tribunal fees, giving the tribunal the power to enforce its own orders and ordering that awards will increase by fixed percentages if they are not paid within a fixed timescale — with all additional payments and penalties ending up in the claimant’s pocket rather than that of the Ministry of Justice.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-considering-new-powers-to-tackle-non-payment-of-tribunal-awards