I refer to the above and your previous responses on ET losses to various individuals. In your response dated 3 June 2016 to Mr Kelly (Ref: 0252-1617) you stated that of the 845 cases raised against TfL between 2008-16, the 41 cases lost only represented 5% of the total number raised. While this sounds commendable when you take into account the settled cases, 232 or 27%, that gives a figure of 32% or nearly a third where TfL have done something wrong. I say this as why "settle" a case if you have done nothing wrong. Settlement by legal definition means "an arrangement where property passes to a person ... as dictated by the settlor" whereby "settlor" is TfL & "property" is the settlement figure/item. Hence, I would like more details on these 232 further cases where TfL has err'd in someway leading to a potential ET. I appreciate an agreement has been signed whereby the claim is withdrawn as the employee relinquishes TfL of any blame in return for a specified payment. Hence, please supply the following: 1) What was the reason for the cases settled before getting to an ET hearing stage? By this I mean the complaint raised against TfL (as a whole or if easier per division). I do not need each case listed merely the total numbers per case type eg unfair dismissal, disability discrimination as well as the others recognised by the ET. 2) If you provide (1) above, can you additionally provide how much it cost TfL to settle the "wrong" encountered/claimed by the staff member. By cost I mean the actual monetary amount paid out. As I do not need individual case details the total figure per claim type should be allowable. 3) How many of the 232 individuals left TfL; how many moved position within the combine & how many remain employed in the same area. 4) Please also give a cost to TfL of dealing with the cases under each claim type as detailed in (1) above. By cost I mean administration, staff & legal costs per case. Again, I only want totals I don't want individual details! If costs can't be separated into the three kinds listed above, a whole cost to TfL is acceptable. 5) If any lessons have been learnt from these cases can you confirm what they are. To clarify: A) I neither need nor want individual details of each or any case. B) I accept that individuals can list more than one reason for a claim so the total supplied will likely be higher than 232. C) If I can change my request in anyway to make it easier to respond whilst getting the majority of what I have asked for I would be happy to discuss.

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Our ref: FOI-2543-1617

Thank you for your email received on 4 December 2017 asking for information about employment tribunal cases settled before going to tribunal.

Your request has been processed in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

Unfortunately, to provide you with the further information you have requested, would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

We have estimated that it would exceed the cost limit to provide a response to your current request as there are hundreds of cases to manually go through to establish the details on the outcome of these cases.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by Transport for London. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of TfL.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Melissa Nichols

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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