Claimant v Birmingham Women’s And Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and Unison — 2024

The claimant's application dated 8 November 2024 for reconsideration of the judgment dated 26 September 2024 was refused. The tribunal held that the amended request was out of time under rule 71 because a reconsideration application cannot be expanded outside the 14-day limit, and the claimant had already made and lost a previous reconsideration application.

The tribunal said there was no requirement to answer every point raised, but it noted that the claimant was in substance trying to reopen issues already decided and to add material that had not been before the tribunal, including screenshots from his NHS app and other documents that could with reasonable diligence have been produced earlier. It said reconsideration is not a rehearing and that the proper route for challenging the earlier findings was appeal.

On the underlying disability issue, the tribunal recorded that it had considered the claimant's witness statement, medical evidence, oral evidence and submissions, and had found that he was not suffering from an impairment until January 2023. It had also considered whether any earlier adverse effect on his normal day-to-day activities was substantial and long term, but concluded that it was not. The tribunal therefore said the claimant's disability discrimination claims were dismissed, and it refused reconsideration because there was no reasonable prospect of the original decision being varied or revoked and finality required refusal.