Member L Brown Tribunal Member T Lithgow Mr B McTague v The Scottish Ministers — 2025

The tribunal found that the respondent dismissed the claimants for conduct after a prisoner alleged that they had used inappropriate force in a cell and failed to report it. Conduct was accepted as a potentially fair reason, but the tribunal held that the investigation and decision-making process were not fair in the circumstances.

The tribunal found material defects in the investigation, including reliance on unsigned witness statements, failure to analyse inconsistencies in the prisoner's accounts, failure to test the medical and CCTV evidence against alternative explanations, and failure to explain why evidence from other officers was accepted for some purposes but not in relation to the claimants. It also found that the allegation remained vague and that the decision maker did not have reasonable grounds for believing the claimants had committed the alleged misconduct.

The dismissal was held to be unfair. The tribunal rejected a Polkey reduction but found that the claimants contributed to the disciplinary proceedings by failing to make a timely report of the prisoner's conduct and their interaction in the cell, applying a 20% reduction to compensation. For Mr McTague, the tribunal ordered reinstatement from 5 January 2026 and awarded £24,061 net for loss of earnings between dismissal and reinstatement.