Practice Directions and Guidance for Employment Tribunals (England and Wales)
This page contains links to various Practice Directions, Presidential Guidance and other guidance documents that apply to the Employment Tribunals in England and Wales. They apply as described either to England & Wales, or jointly to England, Wales & Scotland.
The Employment Tribunal Procedural Rules 2024 took effect on 6 January 2025. The Practice Directions and the Presidential Guidance documents that have been issued (whether by current or previous presidents) and which remain extant are set out below. They were issued under previous iterations of our procedural rules. These Practice Directions and Presidential Guidance documents remain in effect. Until such time they are reviewed, references therein to the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 should be read as references to the Employment Tribunal Procedural Rules 2024, with the assistance of the attached conversion table prepared by Regional Employment Judge David Franey found here.
Procedural Matters
- Practice Direction (England & Wales) – Presentation of Claims (PDF) (2 March 2020)
- Practice Direction (England, Wales & Scotland) – Statutory Appeals (PDF) (11 September 2017)
- Practice Direction (England & Wales) – Addresses for Serving Documents in Special Cases (PDF) (19 October 2017)
- Practice Direction (England, Wales & Scotland) – Electronic Signatures (PDF) (13 December 2021)
- Practice Direction (England & Wales) – Welsh Language (PDF) (14 September 2020)
- Practice Direction (England, Wales & Scotland) – Recording and Transcription of Hearings (PDF) (20 November 2023)
- Practice Direction (England, Wales and Scotland) – Presentation of Responses (PDF) (6 April 2024)
- Presidential Guidance (England & Wales) – Rule 21 Judgments (PDF) (4 December 2013)
- Presidential Guidance (England & Wales) – Seeking a Postponement of a Hearing (PDF) (4 December 2013)
- Presidential Guidance (England, Wales & Scotland) – Recording and Transcription of Hearings (PDF) (20 November 2023)
- Presidential Guidance (England, Wales & Scotland) – Panel Composition (PDF) (29 October 2024)
Case Management
- Presidential Guidance (England & Wales) – General Case Management (22 January 2018)
- Agenda for Case Management (England & Wales) – PDF version
- Agenda Rheoli Achosion (Cymru a Lloegr) – Cymraeg – PDF
- Agenda for Case Management (England & Wales) – Word version
- Agenda Rheoli Achosion (Cymru a Lloegr) – Cymraeg – Word
The Conduct of Employment Tribunal Hearings
- Practice Direction (England & Wales) – Remote Hearings and Open Justice (PDF) (14 September 2020)
- Presidential Guidance (England & Wales) – Remote and In-person Hearings (PDF) (14 September 2020)
- Presidential Guidance (England, Wales & Scotland) – Taking Oral Evidence by Video or Telephone from Persons Located Abroad (PDF) (25 July 2022)
- Presidential Guidance (England & Wales) – Vulnerable Parties and Witnesses (PDF) (22 April 2020)
- Practice Guidance on Remote Observation of Hearings – issued by Lord Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals (PDF) (June 2022)
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Compensation for Injured Feelings – Vento Bands
- Presidential Guidance (England, Wales & Scotland) – Awards for injury to feelings and revised Vento Bands (5 September 2017)
- First Addendum to Presidential Guidance – claims from 6 April 2018 (23 March 2018)
- Second Addendum to Presidential Guidance – claims from 6 April 2019 (25 March 2019)
- Third Addendum to Presidential Guidance – claims from 6 April 2020 (27 March 2020)
- Fourth Addendum to Presidential Guidance – claims from 6 April 2021 (26 March 2021)
- Fifth Addendum to Presidential Guidance – claims from 6 April 2022 (28 March 2022)
- Sixth Addendum to Presidential Guidance – claims from 6 April 2023 (24 March 2023)
- Seventh Addendum to Presidential Guidance – claims from 6 April 2024 (25 March 2024)
Pension Loss
- Presidential Guidance (England, Wales & Scotland) – Principles for Compensating Pension Loss (10 August 2017)
- Third Addendum to Presidential Guidance (12 March 2021)
- Employment Tribunals (England, Wales & Scotland) – Principles for Compensating Pension Loss (fourth edition, third revision, 2021)
- Basic Guide to Compensation for Pension Loss (to accompany the fourth edition, third revision, 2021)
COVID-19 pandemic
- Presidential Guidance (England, Wales & Scotland) – Conduct of Employment Tribunals proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic (18 March 2020)
- Amended Direction in respect of Employment Tribunal hearings during the COVID-19 pandemic (24 March 2020)
- FAQs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic (30 April 2020)
- Updated FAQs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic (including ET Road Map for June to December 2020) (1 June 2020)
- ET Road Map for 2021-2022 (31 March 2021)
- ET Road Map for 2022-2023 (31 March 2022)