(1) Ms S Doyle (2) Mrs K Dowd v City of Liverpool College — 2025

The Tribunal, sitting at Liverpool over multiple days in September and November 2024 with deliberations concluding in chambers on 9 January 2025, unanimously found that both claimants had been constructively unfairly dismissed by City of Liverpool College. The claimants, who were senior staff in the respondent's Digital Academy, had resigned in January 2022 following a sequence of events that the Tribunal considered amounted to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. A list of 45 alleged breaches had been narrowed by agreement during the hearing to 25 allegations spanning the academic year 2021-2022, including matters connected to the principal's child (referred to as 'X') being educated at the Digital Academy, a whistleblowing investigation conducted by external solicitors, and the claimants' suspensions in January 2022.

Mrs Dowd had also brought two disability discrimination complaints under sections 15 and 26 of the Equality Act 2010, namely discrimination arising from disability and harassment related to disability. The Tribunal found both of these complaints not well-founded and dismissed them. An earlier complaint by Mrs Dowd of automatic unfair dismissal for trade union activities had been withdrawn before the substantive hearing and was dismissed in a separate judgment dated 9 February 2024.

The Tribunal also made case-management decisions, including a Restricted Reporting Order under Rule 50 covering certain 2018 emails about the principal's child, and refused the respondent's late application to introduce handwritten notes by Ms Schofield that had only emerged during cross-examination of Ms Banks. The judgment is reserved and the text provided does not include a monetary remedy; the issue of compensation appears to be reserved for a further hearing.