Guidance

Responding to an employment tribunal claim (T423)

Updated 29 April 2025

Presidential guidance

Under the employment tribunal rules, the presidents of the employment tribunals in England and Wales and in Scotland may issue presidential guidance. The aim of that guidance is to improve consistency in the way employment tribunals manage cases and enable the parties to better understand what is expected of them and what to expect. It is not binding but should be followed where possible.

Go to the presidential guidance issued by both presidents in England and Wales and the presidential guidance in Scotland.

Having a claim determined by an employment tribunal can take a number of months. The length of time it takes to complete the process will depend on what your claim is about and the issues involved in your claim. If there are lots of issues, or they are complicated, your case may take longer.

If the employment tribunal upholds your claim, they will consider what award to make. This is often referred to as the ’remedy‘ which is awarded by the tribunal. A remedy can have financial and non-financial aspects to it. For example, a tribunal may make a:

• declaration that the respondent has violated your rights
• recommendation in a discrimination case that the respondent take action to reduce the likelihood of the discriminatory act recurring

The award will include the amount the tribunal calculate you should have been paid if the breach of your rights had not occurred and might, depending on the nature of the claim, include an award in respect of a future period.

Tribunals will decide what award you are entitled to based on your personal circumstances, including:

• your age
• how much you earn
• injury to feelings – for cases involving discrimination

This will be based on existing guidance, set out in case law. In unfair dismissal claims, the tribunal may also order that you be reinstated in your previous position or re-engaged by the respondent in other suitable employment.

Awards for successful claimants will be different and depend on the details of the claim. You can get impartial advice about your claim from the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100.

General data protection regulations

The Ministry of Justice and HM Courts and Tribunals Service processes personal information about you in the context of tribunal proceedings.

You can find out more about the standards we follow when processing your data.

To receive a paper copy of this privacy notice, please contact our customer contact centre.

Customer contact centre

England and Wales: 0300 323 0196
For Welsh speakers: 0300 303 5176
Scotland: 0300 790 6234

A copy of the claim form or response and other tribunal related correspondence may be copied to the other party and Acas for the purpose of either:

• tribunal proceedings
• to reach settlement of the claim

Welsh language act

If you are responding to a claim in Wales you can ask that correspondence and phone calls are in Welsh. If both sides agree, the hearings may be carried out just in Welsh. If both English and Welsh are used at a hearing, we can provide translation facilities if you ask.

What do employment tribunals do?

Employment tribunals hear cases and make decisions on matters to do with employment such as unfair dismissal, redundancy payments discrimination and a range of claims relating to wages and other payments. Although an employment tribunal is not as formal as a court it must comply with rules of procedure and act independently.

Claim process summary

1. Dispute resolution

1. Dispute arises.
2. Try to resolve informally with employer.
3. Early conciliation with Acas (advisory, conciliation and arbitration service).

2. Submit a claim to the tribunal

Estimated time: 5 days

1. Send a claim to tribunal.
2. Claim is accepted (or not accepted and returned) and sent to the respondent.

3. Respondent’s response

The respondent has 28 days to respond.

4. Case management

Estimated time: 26 weeks

1. If the respondent did not respond to the claim, a judgment is issued.
2. If there is a response, both parties can make applications within the case.
3. A hearing is held.

5. Judgment

Judgment issued within 4 weeks after the final hearing.

Judgments issued to parties from February 2017 are published on the online public register.

You can get more help and advice from:

• free advice services such as a Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) in England and Wales or Scotland or a law centre. The website address for Citizens Advice in England and Wales is
• employers’ organisations – if you are a member
• solicitors and other professional advisers

How do I respond to the claim?

Your response will not be accepted by the tribunal unless it is on a form which is approved (prescribed) by HM Courts & Tribunals Service.

The form is available in:

• the paper copy which was sent to you, or:
• a version of the response which can be found on our website at gov.uk/being-taken-to-employment-tribunal-by-employee/overview

You must complete and return your response form to the tribunal to reach us by the date on the letter sent with the claim form. It is your responsibility to ensure that the tribunal receives your response within the relevant time limit; that is 28 days from the date we sent you a copy of the claimant’s claim form.

Or, you can make your response on-line through our website at gov.uk/beingtaken-to-employment-tribunal-by-employee/overview. When you respond online, it will be sent automatically to the tribunal dealing with the case. There is no need to send a copy of your form or to send any other documents by post at this stage.

You should keep a copy of your response form for your records. Whenever you contact us you should quote the case number on our letter and any relevant documents. When you write to us by letter or email, you should send a copy to the claimant and any other respondent in the case and tell us you have done so. If you are asking the tribunal to make an order or take other action, you must also tell the claimant they should send any objections to the tribunal as soon as possible.

If the claimant is claiming a redundancy payment or notice pay, wages or holiday pay which you cannot pay due to financial difficulties, you should mention this in your response and tell us about any formal proceedings that are being taken in connection with your financial situation.

What can I do if I cannot meet the deadline for sending in my response?

You can ask the tribunal to extend the time limit if it is not possible for you to fill in the form in time. For example, if you need more time because an important witness (such as the person who took the decision to dismiss the claimant) is abroad on holiday and you need information from them. You must ask for such an extension in writing as soon as possible. If you do not do so within the 28 day time limit the claim is likely to be treated as one to which no defence has been submitted and a judgment will probably be made against you. Your application for an extension of time must provide full reasons why you are asking for the extension. If you apply after the 28 day time limit has expired you must, in addition, either send in a draft of the response you wish to submit or explain why this cannot be done. An employment judge will then decide whether to grant an extension. You will be informed of their decision and cannot assume an extension has been granted until then.

Information needed before your response can be accepted

The tribunal cannot accept your response unless you provide certain minimum information. By law, you must tell us:

• your full name and address
• whether you want to resist (defend) all or part of the claim

If your response is not on a form approved (prescribed) by HM Courts & Tribunals Service or does not contain the information shown above, it will be returned and the claim dealt with as if we have not received a response.

What will happen if the tribunal does not accept my response?

Your response will not be accepted and so you cannot resist the claim if:

• your response is not on a form prescribed by HM Courts & Tribunals Service
• The tribunal does not receive your response within the time limit and an extension of time has not been granted
• your response does not provide all the minimum information

In these circumstances, an employment judge may issue a judgment if they consider it appropriate.

If no response is accepted in relation to the claim then an employment judge can decide the claim without the need for a hearing although a hearing to determine compensation may sometimes be required. You would only be entitled to take part in such a hearing to the extent permitted by the employment judge who hears the case.

What happens when the tribunal receives my response?

If the tribunal accepts your response, we will send a copy to the claimant. In most cases we will also send a copy to Acas. This step is required by law even if you have been through early conciliation.

Acas’s role

Where we send a copy of your response to Acas, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, an Acas conciliator will contact you, even if early conciliation has been tried and was unsuccessful, to explore whether or not it may be possible to resolve the claim against you, through conciliation, and without the need for a tribunal hearing.

Public Interest Disclosure claims

Where a claim consists of, or includes, a claim that the claimant has made a protected disclosure under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (otherwise known as ‘whistleblowing’) HM Courts & Tribunals Service is required, where the claimant has given their consent that we should do so by ticking box 10.1 of the ET1 form, to copy the claim form or extracts from it to the relevant regulator. Where the claim contains complaints other than the ‘whistleblowing’ complaint, all references to the other complaints will be deleted prior to HM Courts & Tribunals Service copying the claim to the regulator.

Where the claimant has given their consent that we should copy the claim form, or extracts from it, to the Regulator we will write to you to say when and to whom the form was sent. It will be for the Regulator to decide whether the underlying issue contained in the claim form requires investigation. This will not affect in any way how the claim is processed by HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Further guidance can be found at www.gov.uk/whistleblowing.

Breach of contract claims

If a claimant is no longer employed, he or she may make a claim against an employer for breach of contract, In certain circumstances, this entitles you to make an employer’s contract claim. Any such employer’s contract claim must be included in the response form and must be made within 28 days of the date that the copy of the claim form was sent by the tribunal.

What happens while I am waiting for the case to be heard?

Once we have received your response, there may be some issues which need to be dealt with before the claim can be decided.

For example, either you or the claimant may need to get more information from each other. The tribunal may give directions or orders on this and other matters relating to the case, which you must follow. If witnesses are vital to the case but will not come to the hearing freely, you can ask for a witness order to make them attend.

If you decide that you need more information or documents from the claimant, you should ask the claimant for this in writing, giving a reasonable time limit for replying. If the claimant does not provide the information you have asked for, you should write to the tribunal as soon as possible enclosing a copy of your written request and ask the tribunal to issue an order.

The tribunal can also decide that more information is needed from either you or the claimant to clear up a particular matter.

In some cases, the tribunal may hold a preliminary hearing to deal with these matters. This will be held by an employment judge on his or her own and you and the claimant will be invited to take part. It may be held over the phone, by video link where that is convenient or in person. If you do not carry out or comply with any order made by the tribunal your response may be dismissed, and/or you may be ordered to pay all or some of the claimant’s costs.

Do I have to pay the claimant’s costs?

Generally, no. However, the tribunal can make an order for costs or preparation time if it believes that you or your representative have behaved abusively, disruptively or otherwise unreasonably in the way you have conducted your case or thinks that your defence to the claim was so weak that it should not have been raised. Costs are known as expenses in Scotland.

Employment judges and tribunals also have the power, where the hearing relates to a claim made on or after 6 April 2012, to order a party to make a payment to cover expenses incurred by any witness or witnesses who have been asked to attend the hearing.

Financial penalties

Employment tribunals will have the power, where a claim has been made after 6 April 2014, to order a respondent who has lost a case to pay a financial penalty of up to £5,000 if it considers that the employer’s breach of the claimant’s employment rights had ‘one or more aggravating features’. The minimum amount of any penalty will be set at £100.

A financial penalty may be ordered against an employer even if a financial award has not been made to the claimant. However, if a financial award has been made, the financial penalty must be 50% of the amount of the award subject to a minimum of £100 and a maximum of £5,000. Tribunals must take account of the employer’s ability to pay when deciding whether to order a penalty.

Financial penalties will not be paid to the claimant in the case but to the Secretary of State and is paid into the Government’s Consolidated Fund. If the employer pays the penalty within 21 days sum payable will be reduced by 50%.

When will the claim be heard?

We will write to you and the claimant at least 14 days before the day of the hearing to tell you when the hearing will take place. With this letter, we will direct you to a publication called ‘The hearing’ which will help you prepare.

What should I do if the case settles?

Both parties should let us know immediately if the case is settled before the date of the hearing. The conciliation officer will let us know if your case is settled through Acas.

Correspondence

When we write to you we will refer to you as the ‘respondent’.

We will send a copy of your response form to the claimant.

Parties are required under the Rules of Procedure to copy any letters or documents that they send to the Tribunal (other than an application for a witness order) to all other parties and must state that this has been done. You can show that this has been done, for example, by the use of “cc”.

We will send you and the claimant any decision or judgment the tribunal makes. You must let us know immediately if your contact details change. If you have a representative acting for you, we will send all correspondence about the case to them and not to you and you must pass any further requests for information through them and not straight to us.

Can I correspond by email?

Yes – a full list of employment tribunal email addresses can be found at the back of this publication. You should make sure you quote the case number in any correspondence and in the title bar of the email and send it to the tribunal dealing with the claim.

The tribunal will correspond by email if this is your preference.

Documents you send to the tribunal must be in a ‘Word’ compatible format. We will not accept documents in other formats. When we receive your email, we will send you an electronic acknowledgement. Do not send further emails or phone the tribunal unless you have not received an acknowledgement within two working days of sending your email.

You are responsible for making sure that the tribunal receives any correspondence sent by email within the relevant time limit.

If you want us to communicate with you by email, you will need to supply a valid email address. You can do this by filling in box 2.6 on the response form or at any stage later. When you ask us to communicate with you by email you are agreeing that you check for incoming email at least once every day and that we may pass your email address to other people involved in the claim.

Disability or special needs

If you or anyone coming to a tribunal with you has a disability or a particular need, you should contact the tribunal dealing with your case to discuss the matter. Examples of the help we can provide include converting documents to Braille or larger print, and paying for sign language interpreters. We can also provide hearing-induction loops in the room where the hearing is held if you need them. Please contact us as soon as possible, so we can make appropriate or suitable arrangements.

Standards of service

If you are unhappy with our service, please contact any tribunal or our Customer Contact Centre for a copy of our publication EX343 - Unhappy with our service - what can you do?.

Employment tribunals

Aberdeen

Ground floor, AB1
48 Huntly Street
Aberdeen
AB10 1SH

Phone: 01224 593 137
Email: aberdeenet@justice.gov.uk

Bristol

Bristol Civil and Family Justice Centre
2 Redcliff Street
Bristol
BS1 6GR

Phone: 0117 929 8261
Email: bristolet@justice.gov.uk

Dundee

Ground Floor
Endeavour House
Greenmarket
Dundee
DD1 4BZ

Phone: 01382 221578
Email: dundeeet@justice.gov.uk

East London

2nd Floor
Import Building
2 Clove Crescent
London
E14 2BE

Phone: 020 7538 6161
Email: eastlondon@justice.gov.uk

Edinburgh

54-56 Melville Street
Edinburgh
EH3 7HF

Phone: 0131 226 5584
Email: edinburghet@justice.gov.uk

Glasgow

The Glasgow Tribunals Centre
20 York Street
Glasgow
G2 8GT

Phone: 0141 204 0730
Email: glasgowet@justice.gov.uk

Leeds

West Gate
6 Grace Street
Leeds
LS1 2RP

Phone: 0113 245 9741
Email: Leedset@justice.gov.uk

London Central

Victory House
30-34 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6EX

Phone: 020 7273 8603
Email: londoncentralet@justice.gov.uk

London South

Montague Court
101 London Road
West Croydon
CR0 2RF

Phone: 020 8667 9131
Email: londonsouthet@justice.gov.uk

Manchester

Alexandra House
14-22 The Parsonage
Manchester
M3 2JA

Phone: 0161 833 6100
Email: manchesteret@justice.gov.uk

Midlands (East)

Nottingham Justice Centre
Carrington Street
Nottingham
NG2 1EE

Phone: 0115 947 5701
Email: midlandseastet@justice.gov.uk

Midlands (West)

Centre City Tower
7 Hill Street
Birmingham
B5 4UU

Phone: 0121 600 7780
Email: midlandswestet@justice.gov.uk

Newcastle

Newcastle Civil Family Courts and Tribunal Centre
Barras Bridge
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 8QF

Phone: 0191 205 8750
Email: newcastleet@justice.gov.uk

Wales

Cardiff and the Vale Magistrates Court
Fitzalan Place
Cardiff
South Wales
CF24 0RZ

Phone: 029 2067 8100
Email: waleset@justice.gov.uk

Watford

3rd Floor
Radius House
51 Clarendon Rd
Watford
WD17 1HP

Phone: 01923 281 750
Email: watfordet@justice.gov.uk

Our offices are open from 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday.