Employment Self-Referral

From January 2015 we are operating a project to allow members of the public to self-refer short employment cases rather than having to be referred by one of our referral agencies.

To be eligible for self-referral your case must be:

• An Employment Tribunal claim
• Listed for a final hearing of one or two days
• Being heard in London or the South East

We cannot accept self-referrals of preliminary hearings where the final hearing is to last longer than two days.

If you believe your case is eligible for self-referral then please contact us. We will need to make arrangments for you to send us the basic papers in your case. The minimum we need to accept a referral is:

• Your ET1 claim form
• The ET3 response (if this has been provided by the Respondent)
• The Notice of Hearing from the Tribunal.

If we are able to accept the referral at the appointment we will look for a volunteer to represent you. We are not able to represent everyone who needs help and the fact that a case has been accepted for self-referral does not mean that there is any guarantee that we will find a volunteer although we will do our best. FRU will not take any action on your case unless and until a volunteer comes forward so you should continue preparing your case in the meantime. Please keep in mind that we will need at least 21 days from your appointment until the date of the hearing and the earlier we receive your case the greater the chances are that we will find a volunteer.

Employment cases not eligible for self-referral and all social security cases can still be referred by one of our referral agencies. Where possible we always recommend you visit and obtain advice from an advice agency before seeking a referral to us.