HC Deb 01 April 1993 vol 222 cc336-7W
Ms Armstrong

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how engagement in an industrial tribunal hearing affects the state benefit status of the applicant.

Mr. McLoughlin

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Hilary Armstrong, dated March 1993:

As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to her about how engagement in an industrial tribunal hearing affects the state benefit status of the applicant. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.

There are a range of possible effects which an Industrial Tribunal hearing may have on a claim for unemployment benefit and I have set them out below.

The Employment Protection Act gives employees statutory protection against unfair dismissal by their employer, along with other provisions concerning issues such as contractors of employment, wages questions and breach of contract, all of which are dealt with by Industrial Tribunals.

A claimant may be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefit for up to 26 weeks if they left their employment voluntarily or were dismissed because of misconduct. When a claim for unemployment is made, if it appears that the claimant contributed to their loss of employment, payments are withheld pending further enquiries of the claimant, their employer, or both and, where necessary, the decision of an independent adjudication officer is sought. If an Industrial Tribunal is pending and there is a conflict of evidence that cannot be resolved, the adjudication officer may refer the case to a Social Security Appeal Tribunal (SSAT) for a decision. The Social Security adjudicating authorities and the Industrial Tribunals are entirely independent of each other. Decisions of one are not binding on the other, however it is possible that the evidence recorded by the Industrial Tribunal may be taken into account by a SSAT in reaching their decision.

Where a decision is given in favour of the client any arrears of benefit withheld are paid. It is a fundamental condition for receipt of benefit that a person be available for work on each day that they claim. For someone attending a tribunal they would have to be available for work at 24 hours' notice.

Where an Industrial Tribunal makes an award under the Employment Protection Act the Secretary of State is empowered to recover from the award, some or all of the unemployment benefit or income support already paid for the same period. The amount of benefit to be recovered depends on the amount that is awarded by the Industrial Tribunal for the period between the date of dismissal and the date of the Industrial Tribunal hearing. If an award is made in respect of the future loss of earnings there may be no unemployment benefit entitlement for any part of the period specified in the award which falls within a year of the termination of the unemployment.

I hope this is helpful.

As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.