The government is currently consulting on proposals which are designed to give businesses the confidence to take on more employees without additional risk, cut red tape and reduce public costs
At first glance the proposals do seem positive for employers: the qualifying period for unfair dismissal will be increased to 2 years; all disputes will go to mediation before they can proceed to the tribunal; and employees may be required to pay a fee.
However the experience over the last decade of tribunal reform does make you wonder. People just seem to find a way round the system and might do with these proposals. For example, there is no qualifying period for whistle blowing or discrimination claims. So employees may be tempted to add those allegations with the end result that employers could find themselves with more complicated and costly claims to defend.
There will be separate consultation on requiring employees to pay a fee before they are able to bring a claim. In our experience, most employees who get as far as the tribunal genuinely think they have a case. So the overall number of claims may not drop but if the employer wants to negotiate a “commercial” settlement before the case is heard it is likely that the “price” will go up by the amount of the fee paid by the claimant.
Successive governments have found it hard to achieve their objectives in tribunal reform. It remains to be seen whether the present government fares any better.