Author Archives: wonkypolicywonk

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About wonkypolicywonk

Wonkypolicywonk is a recovering policy minion, assigned wonky at birth. At an early age, he chose to be a pain in the arse, rather than a liar. Unfortunately, he then spent much of his professional 'career' working for liars.

Employment Tribunal fees: Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before

Posted on January 30, 2024 by wonkypolicywonk

A ripple of excitement ran through ’employment law & policy’ X (formerly ’employment law & policy’ Twitter) yesterday, when the Ministry of Justice unexpectedly presented us with an opportunity to dust off a much-used hashtag from the past: #ETfees It … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment tribunals, Justice, Workers' rights | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Employment Tribunal cases: the new normal

Posted on December 18, 2023 by wonkypolicywonk

The latest set of quarterly Tribunal statistics – published last week – indicates that, having risen steadily from mid-2017 (when fees were abolished) to a Covid-induced peak in late 2020, the number of new Employment Tribunal cases has now settled … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment tribunals | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Employment Tribunal backlog: Down in the MoJ at midnight

Posted on November 9, 2023 by wonkypolicywonk

In June this year – and then again in July for good measure – junior justice minister Mike Freer MP – who almost certainly doesn’t smell of pubs and Wormwood Scrubs and too many right wing meetings – told the … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Workers' rights | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Employment Tribunal backlog: Getting freer with the data

Posted on August 24, 2023 by wonkypolicywonk

Previously on this blog, I have noted how, since February this year, HM Courts & Tribunal Service has been magically shrinking the backlog of Employment Tribunal cases, by retrospectively revising downwards its previously published monthly management information (MI). The backlog as … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Employment Tribunals: the incredible shrinking backlog

Posted on July 14, 2023 by wonkypolicywonk

Previously on this blog, I have noted how, in March this year, HM Courts & Tribunal Service began to revise its previously published management information on the backlog of Employment Tribunal cases, and how this magical shrinkage of the ET … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice | Tagged , | 4 Comments

More bad dad dancing?

Posted on July 3, 2023 by wonkypolicywonk

Maybe the Department for Business & Trade missed the memo about Father’s Day always being celebrated on the third Sunday in June, but they waited until 29 June to publish their response to the consultation on reform of parental leave … Continue reading →

Posted in Parental rights, Workers' rights | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Policy in the lurch: parental leave reform

Posted on June 16, 2023 by wonkypolicywonk

Earlier this week on this blog, I noted the traditional attempts by policy wonks to exploit the commercial confection that is Father’s Day to call for reform of statutory paternity leave, including a new joint report by the think tank … Continue reading →

Posted in Parental rights, Workers' rights | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Dad dancing: reform of parental leave

Posted on June 12, 2023 by wonkypolicywonk

Father’s Day is approaching, so naturally paternity leave is back in the news – or, at least, back in the Independent newspaper – thanks to a “damning” new TUC survey finding that “the low level of statutory paternity pay stops … Continue reading →

Posted in Parental rights, Workers' rights | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The incredible shrinking ET backlog

Posted on May 12, 2023 by wonkypolicywonk

Back in March, I noted on this blog how HM Courts & Tribunal Service had begun to revise its previously published management information on the backlog of Employment Tribunal cases, and how this had started to shrink the size of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

A hollow victory? Enforcement of unpaid ET awards

Posted on April 20, 2023 by wonkypolicywonk

On a cold, grey day in early 2009, I was summoned to a meeting with officials at the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice in Petty France. A few months previously, in response to a series of reports I had … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , , | 1 Comment