Information for claimants and respondents

Conciliation

In most cases copies of relevant documents are sent to the Labour Relations Agency (LRA), who will try to assist the parties to reach a settlement.  Information given to the conciliation officer is confidential and cannot be used in evidence at the hearing without the consent of the party who gave the information to the conciliation officer, there is no charge for this service.  If you think that a conciliation officer can help even though a claim has not yet been made, you should contact the LRA,  If you decide to contact the LRA, you should remember that there are time limits for making/ responding to a claim to a tribunal.

Joinder / Dismissal

Sometimes a claimant will seek a remedy against a person (or other body) who is not the respondent named in their claim.  In such cases, either on request or on their own initiative, the Tribunal may order that such a person (or other body) be joined as a party to the proceedings and, where necessary, dismiss the person or body named in the claim from the proceedings.

If the case settles

If your case settles before the hearing, you should let us know immediately.  If your case is settled using the LRA, the conciliation officer will let us know.

Special Needs

If you (or a person required to attend a tribunal) have particular needs because of a disability, you should advise the Office of the Tribunals, so that we can provide any assistance which you may require.  Examples of the help that we can provide include, converting documents to Braille and arrangement/ payment for sign language interpreters.

Where a particular need is identified this should be notified to the Office of the Tribunals at the earliest possible date.

Interpreters

If you (or a person required to attend a tribunal) have problems communicating with the tribunals in English, you should advise the Office of the Tribunals who can arrange for an interpreter to be present at hearing, if appropriate.  You should correspond with the Office of the Tribunals in English.