Ms T Fairclough v St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council — 2025

At a public preliminary hearing, the Tribunal refused the claimant's oral application to amend her claim to add a direct age discrimination complaint concerning a flexible retirement request. The remaining age discrimination complaint was dismissed on withdrawal.

The respondent applied to strike out the unfair dismissal complaint or, alternatively, for deposit orders in respect of the complaint or parts of it. The Tribunal considered the claimant's case at its reasonable and realistic highest, including arguments about whether her resignation should be treated as a dismissal and whether there had been breaches of express or implied contractual terms.

The Tribunal held that the threshold for strike out was not met. Although it regarded some arguments as weak and said two had little reasonable prospect of success when viewed in isolation, it declined to make deposit orders because the unfair dismissal claim otherwise had reasonable prospects and the factual context would need to be examined at the final hearing.