Miss D Lawrence v Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust — 2021

Following the liability judgment sent on 16 August 2021, the tribunal heard remedy evidence on 24 September 2021 and, in chambers, on 30 September 2021. The parties agreed the basic award figure and the respondent accepted the weekly net loss figure of £448.53. The remaining issues were Polkey, mitigation, pension loss, and loss of statutory rights.

The tribunal held that the Polkey question had already been decided at liability stage, so the claimant was subject to a 75% reduction from the date of dismissal rather than a period of full salary before any deduction. On mitigation, the majority found that she had not taken reasonable steps because she did not actively use the NHS Jobs website and could have applied for more work; it accepted that she had used job websites, HeadsUp, and training to improve her skills, and that her search was affected by the pandemic and by not having a laptop, but Mr Woodward dissented in part on that issue.

On pension loss, the tribunal accepted that, had she not been dismissed, the claimant would have reached 60 on 13 November 2018 and then taken her pension while continuing NHS work, and it assessed pension loss at £10,181.56 using the Pension Principles (4th Ed. 3rd rev.) rather than a contributions-only approach. It also awarded £500 for loss of statutory rights. The remedy table records a basic award calculation of £3,300.75 after a 25% conduct deduction, a prescribed element of £4,373.17 for the period 17 February 2018 to 16 February 2019, and a final award line of £7,043.56; the Employment Protection (Recoupment of Jobseeker's Allowance and Income Support) Regulations 1996 apply.