Employment Tribunal (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 No 1861)

These provisions came into force on 1 October and introduced new terminology similar to the Civil Procedure Rules. ‘Applicant’ became ‘Claimant’, ‘Originating application’ became ‘Claim form’ and ‘Notice of appearance’ became ‘Response form’. The time for filing a response form was increased from 21 to 28 days but runs from the date the form is sent out and not when it was received. Periods for conciliation by ACAS are fixed at seven weeks for unlawful deduction, breach of contract and redundancy, with 13 weeks for all other cases except sex, race and disability discrimination and equal pay. No hearing can take place during this conciliation period. There is provision for default judgment for a moneyed sum where the employer does not contest the claim. All tribunal reasons will in future be in a standard form no longer distinguishing between summary reasons and extended reasons. There are substantial changes to the costs provisions including costs awards for preparation time for unrepresented parties and a power to make wasted costs orders against legal representatives. The paying party’s ability to pay is now a factor to be taken into account in making a costs order.