How to communicate with an Employment Tribunal if your case number starts with a 6 and you DON’T have a representative
You have a digital case file (accessed via a “portal”). The contents of this digital file can be seen by you, by the other side (or their representatives), by HMCTS administrative staff (including legal officers) and by judges.
If you have a disability which makes working digitally difficult for you, or that is true for some other reason, you should write directly to the Employment Tribunal office handling your case.
You should access the portal on a screen bigger than a mobile phone, if possible. This is because you will need to read documents (unless you are able to print them).
How a case begins
A claimant begins a case by completing a claim form (called an “ET1”) and submitting it online to the Employment Tribunals using this website.
The form is then considered by HMCTS staff to make sure that it can be accepted. If it is accepted, the staff send it to the proposed respondent. The respondent is given 28 days to submit a response form (i.e. its defence). This time period may be extended if, in response to an application by a respondent, a judge or legal officer agrees to an extension.
The respondent responds to the case by completing a response form (called an “ET3”) and submitting it online to the Employment Tribunals using this website
When the respondent has submitted its response, HMCTS staff will notify the claimant by email. The claimant can log on to the portal to read the response.
Both parties can continue to view the claim form and the response form on the portal.
During the case
Once the claim has started, both parties should communicate with the Employment Tribunal office handling the case through the portal rather than by email.
So, if you want to contact the Tribunal about something, you need to log on to the portal and select the appropriate option from a dropdown menu. You will then be able to fill in details of what you are telling the Tribunal about your case or asking the Tribunal to do.
The system will automatically copy your application to the other side unless you say that you do not want that to happen. You must have a good reason for this as the general rule is that both sides see everything sent to or from the Tribunal.
The same will apply to the other side when they communicate with the Tribunal. You will be notified by email when that happens so you can log on and see what they have said. In that way you will be able to respond to any applications the other side makes.
Any documents issued by the Tribunal, such as letters, case management orders or judgments, will be uploaded to the portal and you will be notified by email that you should log on in order to see them. That is how you will be made aware of any directions given by the Tribunal and given notice of any hearing dates.
When documents are required for a hearing, they can be uploaded to the portal.
At each stage, the system will help you with explanations about what you need to do.