Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Latest NewsDispute resolutionEmployee relationsEmployment lawEmployment tribunals

TUC chief Brendan Barber defends tribunal system despite surge in court cases

by Greg Pitcher 2 May 2007
by Greg Pitcher 2 May 2007

EXCLUSIVE

TUC leader Brendan Barber has insisted the employment tribunal system is “sensible”, despite a massive rise in the number of claims reaching the courts.

The latest figures from the Employment Tribunal Service show that 115,000 cases (more than 200,000 claims) went to tribunal in 2005-06.

Last week, manufacturing employers’ body the EEF revealed the number of tribunals it had handled over the past year had risen by 25%. Peter Schofield, EEF director of employment and legal affairs, called on the government to “halt the rising tide of employment litigation”.

But Barber said the number of cases reaching tribunal should be higher. He told Personnel Today: “Are there only 120,000 or so experiences of workplace injustice in the UK each year? It is an astonishingly low number.”

Michael Gibbons, a member of the Better Regulation Commission, reported to the government in March that there should be greater use of mediation to reduce the number of tribunal cases.

Earlier this year, Mark Ellis, a solicitor at business consultancy Ellis Whittam, won massive support when he suggested that the unfair dismissal law should be scrapped. Almost half of the 450 HR professionals who responded to Personnel Today’s online barometer survey agreed.

But Barber said calls to scrap the law were “utterly unacceptable”. He added that wider unionisation of workers would reduce the number of disputes that ended up at tribunal.

“One of the consequences of the reduction in collective bargaining has been more people looking to the law for remedies,” he said.

Avatar
Greg Pitcher

previous post
Government appoints Roger Singleton as chairman of Vetting and Barring Scheme to check potential workers with children and vulnerable adults
next post
Thought leaders plan HR’s future at Personnel Today HR Directors Club event

You may also like

Government plans to slash Civil Service redundancy pay

16 Aug 2022

Real wages fall at sharpest rate on record

16 Aug 2022

Degrees less important to employers with entry-level vacancies

16 Aug 2022

Employees going into office just 1.5 days a...

15 Aug 2022

PwC drops 2:1 degree class requirement

15 Aug 2022

Graduate and apprentice salaries shoot up in war...

15 Aug 2022

Personnel Today Awards 2022 shortlist: Excellence in Public...

15 Aug 2022

Hiring boom set to slow as employers come...

15 Aug 2022

Are you a ‘quiet quitter’?

12 Aug 2022

July saw highest number of job adverts for...

12 Aug 2022
  • 6 reasons why work-based learning is better than traditional training PROMOTED | A recent Fortune/Deloitte survey found that 71% of CEOs are anticipating that this year’s biggest business disrupter...Read more
  • Strengthening Scotland’s public services through virtual recruiting PROMOTED | This website is Scotland's go-to place for job seekers looking to apply for roles in public services...Read more
  • What’s next for L&D? Enter Alchemist… PROMOTED | It’s time to turn off the tedious and get ready for interactive and immersive learning experiences...Read more
  • Simple mistakes are blighting the onboarding experience PROMOTED | The onboarding of new hires is a company’s best chance...Read more
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+