Public and Commercial Services Union

Introduction to the employment law scheme

The PCS employment law scheme was launched in September 2002. The scheme provides arrangements, where it is considered necessary, for legal advice to be obtained to help deal with individual cases.

It is operated jointly with Thompsons Solicitors who are specialists in the field of employment law.

The scheme is an integral part of the services provided by the PCS legal and personal case department.

Other services include the personal injury compensation claim scheme and general support on the handling of personal cases.

The vast majority of personal cases are dealt with by local PCS branch officials and representatives.

Most cases are relatively straightforward and do not require legal advice.

However a legal view may well be needed to deal with more complex cases, particularly those relating to dismissal and/or discrimination.

Time limit

The time limit for lodging an employment tribunal claim is 3 months less one day from the act of discrimination.

It is necessary to have submitted a formal grievance prior to lodging an employment tribunal. Members who think they may have a potential discrimination claim should contact their branch representative immediately.

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How the scheme works

The key points for PCS representatives to note are:

A request for legal advice on any case can only be authorised by a full time officer (FTO) working in a PCS bargaining unit (BU) at PCS HQ or in the regional centre network. This aspect of the arrangements is considered essential to the successful implementation of the scheme.

Senior national officers (SNOs) in each PCS bargaining unit are allocated an annual budget to cover the cost of requests for legal advice to Thompsons. This helps ensure the scheme is operated on the most cost effective basis.

Where legal advice is considered necessary, this will normally be sought from the Thompsons office closest to where the member is employed. This makes it easier to arrange face to face contact with the solicitor if this should be needed to help deal with the request for advice.

The scheme operates most effectively when requests are made in a timely manner; identify exactly what advice is being sought and are accompanied by documents that are key to the case.

The scheme also provides for legal representation to be arranged where this is considered appropriate. Authorisation for legal representation is given by the PCS legal and personal case department.

The role of PCS bargaining units

As indicated above, a decision on whether or not legal advice is required for a particular case rests with PCS full-time officers.

Clearly not all cases require such detailed legal advice.

Very often the advice required to deal with a case can be provided elsewhere within PCS - for example, the PCS equality department; the policy, research, information & bargaining support department; legal and personal case department.

FTOs also have the option of contacting solicitors by telephone and this will be done where quick advice on a specific point is required.

Successful implementation of the scheme is very much dependent on the working relationship between lay representatives and bargaining unit/ regional centre full time officials.

Budget controls

The scheme operates within a budget set each year by the national executive committee (NEC).

As indicated above, day to day requests for advice are made by bargaining units and signed off by senior national officers who have responsibility for budgets within their area of responsibility.

Additional money is allocated for those individual cases where legal representation is agreed and/or to deal with claims and cases which may be significant to members across the wider civil service or other employers.

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Requesting legal advice

Obtaining good quality and relevant legal advice is dependent on the content and presentation of the request we make to Thompsons.

The timing of any request is key to this. If we want to be in the best position to represent members, advice - whether legal or otherwise - should be sought at the appropriate stages of case development.

If the case is subject to a potential employment tribunal (ET) application and time permits, every effort should be made to seek advice before an ET1 is lodged.

Similarly further advice should be sought when the respondents have filed a Notice of Appearance and at other key stages as the case develops.

Information required when requesting legal advice

Every request for legal advice should be accompanied by the PC1 form. This is important to ensure that the bargaining unit can obtain the relevant information as quickly as possible.

It is particularly important to fill in the following sections of the form:

Case category checklist

This is a checklist of the various types of claims on which advice may be sought. Completion of the checklist helps to progress requests more quickly and also contributes to a useful database from which PCS can monitor caseload development.

Document checklist

This is a checklist to confirm the documents forwarded by any representative with a request for advice.

The main point to note here is that whoever deals with the request for advice does not need to see every single piece of paper associated with the case.

The checklist identifies those documents which, if they are available and appropriate to any particular case, should be included with any request for help.

Please note that 'originals' of any documents should be retained on the local file and only copies attached when seeking legal advice.

Find out more about using the PC1 form.

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Legal representation

Most cases can be dealt with through representation provided by full time and lay officials.

However cases do emerge where PCS agrees to provide legal representation.

The PCS legal and personal case department decides on any requests made by bargaining units for legal representation.

There is also a general expectation that the case has "reasonable prospects of success", and that the cost of pursuing the case does not outweigh the value of the claim but these factors will not automatically overide supporting a case that fulfills the other criteria set out above.

Telephone advice from Thompsons

It is also worth noting that bargaining unit officers and nominated PCS lay officials are able to telephone Thompsons solicitors directly. This can be beneficial for initial advice on a case and to help settle tribunals.

Please contact your PCS bargaining unit or telephone the legal and personal case department on 0113 200 5300 for details of the nominated officers and representatives who can obtain telephone legal advice.

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Your role in the scheme

Hopefully this guide will help you to understand how the PCS Employment Law Scheme works and what steps are required to ensure advice can be obtained to help progress relevant cases.

Dissemination of advice bulletins

The legal and personal case department publishes a regular bulletin - Dissemination of Advice - that gives details of the legal advice received on real cases.

This is done on an anonymous basis. These bulletins are a useful resource when dealing with cases which may have a legal aspect.

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Appeals process

Lay reps and full-time officers are expected to work together to obtain advice on personal cases.

PCS has a wide range of knowledge and expertise built up over many years and full-time officers will often be able to provide assistance based on their existing knowledge without the need to refer the matter to external solicitors.

Full-time officers are expected to either give advice to the rep (in writing where required) and where legal advice has been requested and is not authorised, officers are expected to make sure that the lay rep is given assistance so that he / she can either progress the case or be able to explain to the member why the case has no merits and cannot be taken any further.

In addition to the knowledge and experience of the full-time officer, departments such as equality, PRIBs, the anti cuts unit, the information service and the legal and personal case department will often be able to advise without the need to refer the matter to solicitors.

Also, legal advice on a number of cases is available on the website and reps are expected to make sure that they are not asking a question on which legal advice has already been obtained.

There are also a number of lay reps across the union who have direct access to Thompsons for telephone advice.

On some occasions however, all these options having been exhausted, a rep may still believe that legal advice is needed or that the case merits legal representation and that he / she has not been able to access legal advice or get agreement to representation being provided.

Where a full-time officer does not feel it is appropriate to obtain legal advice or to refer the matter to the legal department for representation, and where the rep still believes (having considered all of the above options) that a case merits written legal advice, the rep should in the first instance contact the SNO responsible to that area to see if he/she can provide advice or in the alternative is prepared to refer the matter to Thompsons.

The SNO is strongly encouraged to speak to the LAPD for advice and guidance on whether legal advice/representation or other assistance may be appropriate given the circumstances of the case.

Where legal advice is not considered to be needed, it is incumbent on the SNO to ensure that the rep has been given a full written explanation of the reasons for not obtaining external legal advice and that in addition the rep has been given advice on the substantive issues to enable him/her to advise the member.