The Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 have been laid before Parliament. The amendment regulations:

• substitute a new rule 54 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure which deals with the fixing of preliminary hearings – the new rule 54, which comes into force on 6 October 2021, will provide for tribunals to give reasonable notice of the date of a preliminary hearing and in the case of a hearing involving any preliminary issues at least 14 days’ notice and the notice must specify the preliminary issues that are to be, or may be, decided at the hearing
• substitute a new rule 4 of the Early Conciliation Rules of Procedure – the new rule 4, which comes into force on 1 December 2021, will allow a prospective claimant to provide the names of more than one prospective respondent either on an early conciliation form or in a telephone call made to Acas.

These changes are being introduced to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in providing access to justice through the employment tribunal system.

Source: New feed