Low-value employment claims should be fast-tracked and dealt with through mediation, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) recommended this week.

Claims for less than £3,000 should be resolved within three months, the BCC said in a report on employment regulation. It claimed that employment cases are too costly and take an ‘unacceptable’ amount of time to reach tribunal, causing reputational damage to innocent companies.

The BCC suggested a target time of 16 weeks for tribunal hearing dates to be set once claims are accepted. It said claimant employees who have not received legal advice should be vetted by an Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) adviser, to ‘help deal with employees who make a claim with no legal basis, but who tie up the tribunal system and waste employers’ time and money’.

Lewis Silkin employment partner Michael Burd said that the recommendations for stamping out serial litigants were sensible, but shortening the average time to hearing would be costly.