More than two-thirds of solicitors are in favour of scrapping the present £25,000 cap for breach of contract claims in employment tribunals, research by the Law Society suggests.

The web survey found that 61 (70%) of 87 respondents thought the £25,000 cap should not be retained, with 41 in favour of scrapping it altogether. Twenty of the 61 said the cap should be increased to a limit ranging from £40,000 to £250,000.

Most respondents echoed the Law Society’s concern that the current cap of £25,000 is an insufficient deterrent for employers, particularly where the affected employees are high earners. Others described the cap as arbitrary and mooted an alternative inflation-linked cap or a percentage cap based on a claimant’s salary.

Several respondents noted that the cost regime for employment tribunals was more favourable to employees than other courts. They also noted that employment tribunals have ‘vast and varied experience’ of employment law, unlike district judges, for example, who ‘often have little or no experience’.

Around half the respondents disagreed with the Law Society’s view that tribunals should provide written judgments, where possible, on the day of the hearing. Such a practice, they said, would give the tribunals insufficient time to give ‘full reasons’ for their decisions