You’ll be given at least 14 days’ notice before the hearing - you’ll get a letter confirming this. You must prepare documents and arrange for witnesses to attend in advance. ‘Preliminary hearing’ You may be asked to go to an initial hearing (called a preliminary hearing) with the judge to decide on things like: the date and time of a hearing how long the hearing should take The tribunal will let you know if you’ll have to give evidence or provide any extra information. Arrange documents You can ask the claimant for documents that will help you with the case, and they can request documents from you. Examples of documents include: a contract of employment pay slips details of a pension scheme notes from relevant meetings Usually the tribunal will issue an order setting out a timetable for when you should exchange documents. You’ll be sent a letter telling you how many copies of each document to bring to the hearing. Organise witnesses You can bring witnesses to the hearing if they can give evidence directly relevant to the case. If you ask a witness to attend and they do not want to, you can ask the tribunal to order them to come. You must apply in writing to the tribunal office dealing with the case, giving: the name and address of the witness details of what the witness may be able to say and how it will help the case the reason the witness has refused to attend (if they gave you one) You’ll most likely be responsible for paying the witness’s expenses.

Cases are normally held at the employment tribunal office closest to where you worked. You must take the documents you’re using to support the case. You cannot claim for expenses for going to the hearing. What happens at the hearing You’ll present the case to the tribunal - someone else can do this for you, such as a lawyer , friend or family member. The claimant will present their case against you. You may be asked questions by: the judge the claimant 2 other tribunal members (only in certain tribunals) Get a decision You’ll be sent the decision in the post a few days or weeks after the hearing. The decision will be published on GOV.UK . In certain cases you may also be given the decision at the hearing. If you win the case In most cases, you will not be awarded any compensation if you win. However, if the claimant acted unreasonably or if their case had no hope of success, you can ask to be awarded costs by the tribunal.

If you lose, the tribunal can order you to do certain things depending on the type of case. Examples include: giving the claimant their job back paying compensation if you cannot give the claimant their job back paying witness expenses paying damages or loss of earnings Pay compensation Paying compensation is the most common outcome of a tribunal. There can be limits to the amount of money a tribunal can award. There’s no limit in cases of discrimination . The tribunal usually works out the amount based on the financial loss the person has suffered as a result of your actions. Interest is calculated from the day the judgment is received, but you will not have to pay interest if you pay the full compensation award within 14 days. You can be taken to court and forced to pay. You can also be fined and named online by the government if you do not pay. Pay back state benefits You might have to pay back any Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support or Employment Support Allowance (ESA) that the claimant claimed while taking their case to the tribunal. This is to prevent them from getting paid twice. The tribunal and the Compensation Recovery Unit will tell you what you need to do and how much to pay.

If you disagree with a tribunal decision

You can ask the tribunal to reconsider the decision if you lose the case. You must write to the tribunal office within 14 days of getting the decision, saying why you want it to be reconsidered. You need to give good reasons, such as: the tribunal made a mistake in the way it reached its decision you were not told about the hearing new evidence has turned up since the hearing Send your letter to the tribunal office that dealt with the case. Appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal You can also appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal if you think the employment tribunal made a legal mistake.

The Employment Tribunal follows certain rules and processes that you also have to follow. You can also read other relevant tribunal rules and regulations . The tribunal has issued guidance and practice directions which provides more information about specific areas, such as postponing hearings and serving documents. You can also read guidance about specific cases .

Being taken to an employment tribunal

Overview

You can be taken to an employment tribunal by an employee or someone else (for example a job applicant or trade union) over various issues, including:

pay
dismissal
discrimination

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

The tribunal is independent of government and will listen to you (the ‘respondent’) and the other party (the ‘claimant’) before making a decision.

You may have to pay compensation or reinstate the claimant if you lose the case.

Solve the dispute without a hearing

You’ll be contacted by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) if someone wants to make a claim against you. They’ll offer to work with you and the claimant to try to solve the problem without it going to a tribunal - this is called ‘conciliation’.

Call Acas for help and advice.

Acas
Telephone: 0300 123 11 00
Textphone: 18001 0300 123 1100
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm
Find out about call charges

Respond to a claim

The tribunal will send you a letter (known as a ‘response pack’) if a claim has been made against you and conciliation has not worked.

Before you respond, read the response guidance.

You can then respond either:

online by submitting an ET3 response form
by filling out and returning the response pack you’re sent
by downloading and filling in the response form and sending it to the tribunal office dealing with the case

If you’re a legal professional or another type of professional who received a 16-digit reference number in your response pack, you can respond online using a MyHMCTS account.

You must respond to the claim within 28 days.

You may be able to get more time to respond - ask the tribunal. If you’re late or do not respond, the tribunal may make a decision against you without a hearing.

Offer the claimant compensation

You can try to settle the case at any time by offering to pay compensation to the claimant (known as a ‘settlement agreement’).

Get help or legal advice

You may want to get legal advice if a claim is made against you.

Call the employment tribunal enquiry line for general guidance on how the process works or if you’re having technical issues with the online service. They cannot give you legal advice.

Employment Tribunal customer contact centre
Telephone: 0300 123 1024 (England and Wales)
Telephone: 0300 303 5176 (Welsh language)
Telephone: 0300 790 6234 (Scotland)
Textphone: 18001 0300 123 1024 (England and Wales)
Textphone: 18001 0300 790 6234 (Scotland)
Find out about call charges

Get help responding online

Contact We Are Group if you want to respond online but do not have access to the internet or do not feel confident using it.

We Are Group
[email protected]
Telephone: 03300 160 051
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
Closed on bank holidays
Text FORM to 60777 and someone will call you back
Find out about call charges

If you’re in Northern Ireland

Your case will be dealt with by the Office of Industrial Tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal.

View a printable version of the whole guide

Being taken to an employment tribunal

Overview

Solve the dispute without a hearing

Respond to a claim

Offer the claimant compensation

Get help or legal advice

Get help responding online

If you’re in Northern Ireland

Is this page useful?

Help us improve GOV.UK

Help us improve GOV.UK

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Being taken to an employment tribunal

Overview

Solve the dispute without a hearing

Respond to a claim

Offer the claimant compensation

Get help or legal advice

Get help responding online

If you’re in Northern Ireland

Is this page useful?

Help us improve GOV.UK

Help us improve GOV.UK