#tribunal fees

[generalelectionmusings]

[demandthefuture]

Demand #42: Scrap tribunal fees and court charges, reverse all cuts to legal aid

Guest demand by Cautiously Pessimistic.

Our best chance of defending ourselves has always been through collective action. The official channels of “justice” have always been stacked against us. But in the last few years, some major changes have made the official “justice” systems more openly inaccessible than ever before, with very little resistance.

In July 2013, employment tribunal fees were brought in, making it harder than ever before for people on low incomes to challenge things like workplace harassment or unfair dismissal. If you’ve been sacked unfairly, or subject to racial or sexual discrimination, and want to challenge it through a tribunal, it costs you £250 to lodge a claim, and a further £950 to have a hearing. If you’re a member of a well-established union that agrees to cover these costs, that might be affordable, but if your union refuses to take your case up, or if you’re in an unorganised workplace, or a member of small independent union without a great amount of funds, then... well, you’d better have deep pockets, especially if you’ve just lost your job as well.

In April this year, new court charges were brought in, which will have a significant impact on anyone convicted of any offence, but particularly those who choose to defend themselves at trial. If you plead guilty to an offence triable either way at a Magistrates’ Court, you’re automatically liable for costs of £180, on top of whatever sentence you get, but if you plead not guilty to the same offence and then lose your trial, that automatic extra cost rises to £1000. Similarly, cuts to legal aid are making it harder for many people to secure decent representation, especially those who’ve experienced domestic violence, or those challenging a decision to cut their benefits.

Of course, going through the courts and tribunals is never an ideal option, and our aims shouldn’t be limited to better, fairer courts and tribunals. If we ever want to arrive at a world without bosses and judges, that needs to come about through collective action, not bringing a case to ACAS that’ll make wage labour abolish itself. But confidence is a vital necessity for that kind of action, and if we want people to act with us, they need to know that we’ve got their backs, that we’ve got realistic contingency plans for the worst-case scenarios, the sackings and house raids and court cases that tend to follow any real challenge to power. Scrapping tribunal fees and court charges, these further punishments heaped up on those who’re already being victimised, would make it a lot easier to build that kind of confidence.

Cautiously Pessimistic is the pen name of an anonymous anarchist writer, worker and shirker.

28th April 2014