New Clause 5
Employment Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley, Liberal Democrat)
I echo the substance of what the hon. Gentleman just said. When a lay person, who is on a low income and has not been paid their wages, comes to a process, we do not want him to be frightened by potential costs incurred on the other side. That does not mean that costs should never be awarded, but perhaps we should, in looking at this, take a lesson from the small claims court. It could be argued that, if someone has initiated a claim at a lesser level, he should feel invulnerable from costs, but at greater levels the issue becomes much more complex.
One of the things that substantially changed the nature of employment tribunals was when the maximum was increased from £12,000. I do not think that anyone is suggesting that we go back to that, but it did mean that that was the maximum cost that anyone incurred. The question that has to be asked is whether we should look at this from the point of view of costs and the magnitude of the initial claim. If the magnitude of the initial claim is not that great, it allows people to make a commercial decision to concede the claim, rather than to fight it, which is not necessarily ideal. Obviously, the Government’s proposals to try and resolve things before they go to tribunal is definitely a good one, but we would oppose introducing a general “costs awarded every time” approach.