ET tribunal judgments available online from autumn

In a recent announcement, Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) confirmed that from autumn 2016, all new Employment Tribunal (ET) judgments will be made available on an online decisions database. The ET is the first tribunal to be given this new facility.


The new database will provide a useful source of information for trade unions, enabling insights into interpretation of new law, different factual scenarios, employment law trends, trade union-related cases and compensation levels.


At the moment, decisions of the Employment Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal are available online, but ET decisions are not. 


Instead, all paper ET judgments in England and Wales are sent to the ET register office at Bury St Edmunds. They can be accessed in person. 


Copy judgments can be obtained at the register office or by post by writing to the Bury St Edmunds Tribunal and submitting a fee. 


Similarly, Scottish ET judgments are kept at Glasgow ET office.


In relation to past judgments, HMCTS stated: “A decision has yet to be taken in relation to any back record conversion of judgments made prior to the introduction of the new online service.” 


In the meantime, old judgments will continue to be stored at Bury St Edmunds/Glasgow ET and it will be possible to access these in the usual way. 


HMCTS will provide a further update once they have confirmed the date on which the new online database will go live.