Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2022 to Question 54579 on Employment Tribunal Service: Costs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the median cost of seeking advice or representation for an employment tribunal claim on access to justice for people earning below the Lower Earnings Level.

With reference to my answer of 17 October to question 54579 the data used to estimate the median cost is already published and can be found in the Survey of employment tribunal applications 2018 survey at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/survey-of-employment-tribunal-applications-2018.

The Government is committed to supporting people to resolve their disputes without the need for costly litigation. Before an individual makes a claim to an Employment Tribunal they need to contact Acas first where they will be offered the option of free early conciliation to attempt to resolve disputes without needing a judicial determination. The Government also continues to invest in state enforcement and has more than doubled the National Minimum wage budget for compliance and enforcement to £27.8 million for 2022/23, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16.