Assessment of costs requires some scrutiny and reasons for the sum awarded (News, 5 September 2014)

Table of contents

• The impact of this case
• Relevant background law
• The facts and ET decision
• The EAT judgment

Article summary

Where the employment tribunal exercises its discretion to make a costs order below the threshold for a detailed assessment: (1) although the employment tribunal is not bound by the same rules as the civil courts and the discretion is very broad, the costs awarded should not breach the indemnity principle and must compensate and not penalise, (2) there must be some indication that the employment tribunal has adopted an approach which enables it to explain how the amount is calculated, ie by indicating that it has conducted some independent scrutiny of the sums or by setting out the reasons for its conclusion that it was appropriate to award the amount in question. EAT: Ayoola v St Christopher’s Fellowship.