Drafting the ET1
The ET1 form is badly designed. One of its worst faults is that it provides separate boxes in which to write the narrative section of the different claims that may be presented. So, for example, a claimant who is complaining of unfair dismissal, race discrimination and unauthorised deduction of wages has 3 separate boxes to fill in to tell the story relating to each claim.
The trouble with this is that much of the story, told clearly and logically, is likely to be common to all the claims. The form invites either a lot of repetition, or else telling the story in a number of disjointed snippets. If several of the boxes require continuation sheets, the form can get very complicated and hard to read.
The best way to deal with this is simply to write ‘please see additional pages’ in each of the boxes that calls for a narrative, and then tell the whole story once, clearly and logically and making all the individual claims explicit, in a single document. The 3 pages of ‘additional space for notes’ on the form can be used if the story is short enough; otherwise just draft a separate word-processed document and attach that. (For the practicalities of presenting a claim in this event, see previous post.)
