Claimant v Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) — 2020

At the CVP preliminary hearing on 5 August 2020, the claimant did not attend. The tribunal heard evidence from the ACAS conciliator, Ms Furness, and considered the parties' written material, the correspondence exchanged during the June 2017 negotiations, and the claimant's later objections to settlement. The central question was not the merits of the underlying complaints but whether the tribunal's jurisdiction had been ousted by a settlement reached with the assistance of ACAS.

The tribunal found that the parties negotiated in June 2017 through ACAS and that the claimant actively took part in the discussions, including on the termination date. It accepted Ms Furness's evidence that the claimant was told the agreement would be legally binding via ACAS, that he was invited to take legal advice, and that offer and acceptance were reached by email on 28 June 2017 when the respondent agreed to a termination date of 1 September 2017. The tribunal held that a binding agreement existed even though the standard COT3 paperwork was later circulated.

The tribunal rejected the claimant's case that he lacked mental capacity to agree the settlement. It held that the medical material lodged did not establish incapacity at the time of the agreement in June 2017, that stress and ill health did not of themselves show a lack of capacity, and that there was no evidence that the conciliator acted in bad faith or used unfair methods. Applying section 144 Equality Act 2010 and section 203 Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal concluded that the agreement validly settled the discrimination and unfair dismissal claims, so jurisdiction was excluded and the claims were dismissed. No monetary award was made.