A union has lost a judicial review in which its employment lawyers challenged the government’s decision to introduce employment tribunal fees.

Employment lawyers for public services union UNSION claimed they would prevent employees enforcing protection given by the European Union and discriminated against women. Lord Justice Moses rejected both claims and the application was dismissed on the grounds that the employment lawyers had not offered evidence that individual claimants had been affected.

He said there might be cases where workers would not be able to afford to pay for litigation but that the UNISON employment lawyers had failed to offer evidence of any individual who had been denied access to justice.

Although statistics showed a steep decrease in claims being brought, they did not show that this was due to workers being unwilling, rather than unable, to do so, he added.

Figures indicate the number of people taking claims to Employment Tribunals has fallen by around 70% since the fees were introduced in 2013.

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