Employment tribunal claims on-line: ‘last-minuters’, trust government IT systems at your own risk!
Pattinson & Brewer employment specialist Paul Statham with an important early warning for any on-line claimants seeking to beat the 29 July employment tribunal fees deadline…
The Ministry of Justice has announced that a revised ET1 claim form will be introduced on Monday 29 July 2013, the date that employment tribunal fees are introduced. From that date, the new claim form should be used to present a claim.
They have further announced that the on-line submission service for submitting claim forms will not be able to accept claims from 4.00pm on Friday 26 July until Monday 29 July.
Therefore, if you wish to submit an on-line claim to the tribunal before the deadline, you will need to submit it on-line before 4.00pm on Friday 26 July.
Otherwise you will have to fax it to the tribunal or deliver it by hand to the appropriate tribunal office on Friday evening, Saturday or Sunday, and you may be required to provide further evidence to prove that you lodged the application before midnight on Sunday.
The new ET1 Form has not yet been released, nor has there been any piloting of the new system for lodging claims and paying fees, as far as I am aware.
Clearly the Government has great confidence in their IT systems which may not be borne out in practice.