The news that the Ministry of Justice is appointing 54 new salaried Judges for employment tribunals across England and Wales has been welcomed by lawyers.
Vacancies are across all regions in England and Wales, and open to anyone with five years post qualification legal experience as: a solicitor or barrister in England and Wales; a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives; an advocate or solicitor in Scotland; or a member of the Bar of Northern Ireland or a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Northern Ireland.
“This is an extremely welcome development,” says Richard Fox, Partner at Kingsley Napley LLP. “We have been waiting for more resource to be introduced into the Employment Tribunals for some time. This is badly needed to cope with the huge increase in demand after fees were abolished last July.”
For more on the crisis in the employment tribunals, read here.
ICYMI: Here’s a piece on the same subject, in The Times.
The selection process is expected to launch on 19 June, with outcomes to be known in January 2019.
“With Tribunals being stretched the appointment of more Employment Judges cannot come quickly enough,” says Paul McFarlane, a Partner at Weightmans. “However, the process means that we are unlikely to see these Judges sitting until around this time next year. There is also an issue about ensuring sufficient administrative staff are also recruited to service the level of demand being placed on ETs.”
Salaries
The new posts are advertised at: FTE salary of £108,171, with posts in London attracting a salary lead of £2,000 a year and a London Allowance of £2,000 a year – which may or may not attract candidates.
“The price of property in London may be on a downward trend at the moment,” says Fox. “But is that differential really going to be enough to tempt enough candidates away from private practice in the Capital, to apply?”
For more details on the new positions, see: here.
