Following the Supreme Court ruling which declared tribunal fees unlawful, the government pledged to refund those who had paid tribunal fees between 29 July 2013 and 26 July 2017. An official refund programme was set up in October 2017 to handle the process.

However, the refund programme is struggling to make headway with recently published figures from the Ministry of Justice showing that only £6.6 million of the predicted £33 million refund pot (20 per cent) has been paid out.

After the first progress figures were published in May last year, the government accepted that it needed to move more quickly when processing refunds and backtracked on its decision not to contact eligible claimants directly. Justice secretary, David Gauke, confirmed at the time that "further action was necessary" to ensure refunds were made in a timely manner.

The Ministry of Justice has also confirmed that the number of claims being brought has increased sharply since tribunal fees were abolished. Approximately 9,252 claims were brought by employees from January 2018 to the end of March. This is more than double the number of claims brought during the same period last year.

For those who are eligible, you can apply for a refund online here.

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