Employment Tribunal Awards

There has for a long time been concern that many claimants who have been successful before an Employment or Employment Appeal Tribunal have subsequently been unable to recover any monies awarded as the employer has simply failed to pay.  The Citizen’s Advice Bureau published a report entitled “Justice Denied” which highlighted the problem.  Research published by the Ministry of Justice in May 2009 showed that 39% of people granted awards by tribunals had not been paid and of those who were paid only 53% were paid in full.

The Government has now acknowledged the problem and given High Court Enforcement Officers authorisation to enforce Tribunal Awards through a very simple system known as the Employment Tribunal Fast Track.

The Fast Track System is operated by Registry Trust Ltd which will allocate a High Court Enforcement Officer to your case.

If you have received an award from an Employment or Employment Appeal Tribunal which you are unable to recover from the employer all you need to do is to complete a short application form and send it, together with the original or certified copy of the Employment Tribunal award and a cheque for £60.00 payable to “Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service”, to the following address:

Registry Trust Limited
Employment Tribunal Enforcement
153-157 Cleveland Street
London W1T 6QW

You can download the form and a brief guidance note on the procedure from Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service here...

You will be contacted by the High Court Enforcement Officer assigned to your case who will then arrange to register the award with his local county court and transfer it up for enforcement in the High Court by means of a Writ of Fieri Facias (Writ of Fi Fa). This system has also been simplified and can be carried out as a single court process.  Once this initial process has been completed it will then follow the conventional procedure for executing Writs of Fi Fa.  However, unlike the enforcement of a judgment, if we are unsuccessful in recovering the award you will not be required to pay a fee.