{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/employment-tribunal-procedure-rules-2024/rule-13",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/employment-tribunal-procedure-rules-2024/rule-13.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2024/1155",
  "legislation_title": "The Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/employment-tribunal-procedure-rules-2024",
  "path": "rule/13",
  "kind": "rule",
  "number": "13",
  "heading": "Rejection: substantive defects",
  "text": "(1) Tribunal staff must refer a claim to the Tribunal if they consider that the claim, or part of it, may be—\n(a) one which the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to consider,\n(b) one which does not contain any grounds on which the claimant relies, cannot sensibly be responded to or is an abuse of process,\n(c) one which institutes relevant proceedings and is made on a claim form that does not contain either an early conciliation number or confirmation that an early conciliation exemption applies,\n(d) one which institutes relevant proceedings and is made on a claim form which contains confirmation that one of the early conciliation exemptions applies, and an early conciliation exemption does not apply,\n(e) one which institutes relevant proceedings and the early conciliation number on the claim form is not the same as the early conciliation number on the early conciliation certificate,\n(f) one which institutes relevant proceedings and the name of the claimant on the claim form is not the same as the name of the prospective claimant on the early conciliation certificate to which the early conciliation number relates, or\n(g) one which institutes relevant proceedings and the name of the respondent on the claim form is not the same as the name of the prospective respondent on the early conciliation certificate to which the early conciliation number relates.\n(2) The Tribunal must reject a claim, or part of it, if it considers that the claim, or part of it, is of a kind described in sub-paragraphs (a), (b), (c) or (d) of paragraph (1).\n(3) The Tribunal must reject a claim, or part of it, if it considers that the claim is of a kind described in sub-paragraph (e) of paragraph (1), unless the Tribunal considers that the claimant made an error in relation to an early conciliation number and it would not be in the interests of justice to reject the claim, or part of it.\n(4) The Tribunal must reject a claim, or part of it, if it considers that the claim, or part of it, is of a kind described in sub-paragraphs (f) or (g) of paragraph (1), unless the Tribunal considers that the claimant made an error in relation to a name or address and it would not be in the interests of justice to reject the claim, or part of it.\n(5) If a claim, or part of it, is rejected, the Tribunal must send a copy of the claim form to each claimant together with a notice of rejection giving the Tribunal’s reasons for rejecting the claim, or part of it. The notice must contain information about how a claimant may apply for a reconsideration of the rejection.",
  "extent": "E+W+S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Rule 13(1)(b) substituted (2.3.2026) by The Tribunal Procedure and Employment Tribunal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2026 (S.I. 2026/115), rules 1(2), 8(5)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Rule 13 in force at 6.1.2025 immediately after S.I. 2024/1156 comes into force, see rule 1(1)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/1155/rule/13",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T21:24:28.531903+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}