Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the value of employment tribunal fees that have yet to be reimbursed through the fee refund scheme.

The estimated cost of refunding the fees, with interest, is around £33m, plus administration costs. From the launch of the employment tribunal fee refund scheme on 15 November 2017 to 30 September 2018 (the latest available data), there have been 21,500 applications for refunds received and 20,000 refund payments made, with a total value of £15,825,000. Therefore the estimated value of ET fees that have yet to be reimbursed is in the order of £17m as of 30 September 2018. Details of the number and value of refunds paid are included in the MoJ’s regular quarterly statistical bulletin ‘Tribunals and gender recognition certificate statistics quarterly.’ The most recent bulletin was published on 13 December 2018. The next bulletin is due to be published on 14 March 2019.

The refund scheme was announced on 20^th October 2017 through an article on the gov.uk website, letters to parliamentarians, and disseminated information through partners such as trades unions, the Law Society and the Citizens Advice Bureau. In April 2018, we wrote to everyone entitled to a refund and who had not yet applied, as well as interested MPs, to ensure they are aware of the scheme and how to apply. This was completed in July 2018. We will continue to monitor the progress of the refund scheme going forward.

The average length of time from receipt to payment for a single refund application, where the required information has been provided and is submitted online is working 5 working days. For those refund applications submitted by post the average length of time is 10 working days.