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Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Formal judicial dispute resolution bodies: the Employment Tribunals. 3. The Institutional Framework for Labour Dispute Resolution. 4. Challenges and Proposals for Reform: Catching up after Covid. 5. Challenges and Proposals for Reform: More Efficient Dispute Resolution. 6. Challenges and Proposals for Reform: Effective Enforcement of Decisions. 7. Ongoing Reform and Modernisation. 8. Comment.
1. Introduction
The mechanisms originally developed for labour dispute resolution within the United Kingdom tended to reflect a “non-interventionist” philosophy which has historically been attributed to the national system of industrial relations. Settlement of disputes was traditionally left to voluntary procedures agreed between the labour market parties – although on occasions this was entrusted to “third parties”, assisting employers and trade unions to reach agreement, but, generally, on a voluntary basis without the formal sanction of legal binding effect. It may also be noted that the United Kingdom has not witnessed any significant trend towards the compulsory settling of industrial conflicts such as might be found in systems such as those which developed in Australia or New Zealand (notwithstanding both belonging to the Common Law family).