Chapman: ET cannot accept discrimination claim with blank particulars

A claimant submitted an ET1 alleging disability discrimination by ticking box 8.1 but included no particulars at all in section 8.2; the tribunal accepted the claim and issued case-management directions, and the respondent appealed. The EAT (Lady Haldane) held that the tribunal erred by accepting the ET1 without referring it to an Employment Judge and by proceeding to case-manage before the claim's validity was confirmed. A bare tick-box allegation of discrimination with no factual particulars triggers the old rule 12 (2013 Rules; now rule 13 of the 2024 Rules), which makes referral to a Judge mandatory. Later case-management directions cannot cure an initial jurisdictional defect.

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Key authorities

• The Scottish Ambulance Service Board v Chapman [2025] EAT 164
• Trustee of William Jones's Schools Foundation v Parry [2018] ICR 1807