This email has been classified as OFFICIAL

Dear Mr Coleman,

Further to your request please could you clarify whether your request refers to all ET legal proceedings or just those that went to court?

We will place your request on hold until we receive clarification.

Kind regards

Enquiries team
Sellafield Ltd

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This email has been classified as OFFICIAL

Case ref: 2023-0250

Dear Mr Coleman,

Following your request (Case ref: 2023-0250) for information regarding Sellafield Ltd employment tribunal costs expenditure.

Please see below the answers to your questions asked:

Q1. How much money has Sellafield Ltd (SL) spent with DLA Piper over the past 5 years defending employment litigation claims from former and present employees?

A1. £26,351.25

Q2. How much has Sellafield Ltd (SL) spent in total over the past 5 years with ALL legal firms on all ET related matters?

Please provide the data for both scenarios, including :-

A) The costs incurred defending all employment related matters irrespective of whether the claims progressed to an ET hearing.

A2A) £724,481.82.

B) And separately, the figure for costs incurred for those cases that progressed to an Employment Tribunal. Please clarify if these costs are in addition to the figure quoted in question 1. (2a).

For the avoidance of doubt, please include both categories of staff – employees and all those designated a worker in accordance with Section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act.

A2B) £477,546.58

These costs are not in addition to 2a.

Please also note that when calculating the costs of complying, we are entitled to aggregate (total) the costs of all related requests received within 60 working days from the same person or from people who seem to be working together. To date we have not done this and have treated all of your requests as separate requests but we do reserve the right to decline any further requests in relation to the issue of costs incurred or which otherwise appear to be related to this request on this basis.

Q3 Please confirm the number of COT3's Sellafield staff (employees and workers) have signed over the past 10 years?

A3. 17

Q4. Please confirm the number of COT3's Sellafield staff (employees and workers) have that remained unsigned over the past 10 years?

A4. Two remain unsigned of which one is nonetheless a binding agreement.

Q5. Please confirm the number of staff (employee and workers) who have been pursued for costs after refusing to sign a COT3?

A5. This is not a request for information held by Sellafield Ltd but rather a request for comment or opinion as to the motivation of the parties to litigation. As such we do not consider this to be a valid FOIA request. For your reference the right to request information only relates to recorded information that is held by a public authority.

Q6. Please confirm the number of (Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) Sellafield staff (employees and workers) have signed over the past 10 years.

A6. Zero. We have assumed you are requesting information in relation to NDA’s signed in an Employment context. Sellafield has entered into commercial NDA’s.

Q7. Please confirm the total amount of public money that Sellafield has spent over the past 10 years as part of NDA or COT3 settlements.

A7. £314,913.14 - Whilst we have responded on this occasion requesting expenditure over a 10 year period places a significant burden on the public authority. Therefore, any future requests of this nature may be declined on the basis they exceed the applicable cost limited and/or may be regarded as vexatious seeking information which places a significant burden on the public authority.

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request Sellafield Ltd carry out an internal review (contact: [Sellafield request email]).

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.

Kind regards

Enquiries Team
Sellafield Ltd
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Views expressed in this email are not necessarily those of Sellafield Ltd.

Sellafield Ltd, a Nuclear Decommissioning Authority company, is registered in England and Wales, Company number 01002607. The registered office is situated at Hinton House, Birchwood Park Avenue, Risley, Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 6GR."

This email has been classified as OFFICIAL

Case ref: 2023-0250

Dear Mr Coleman,

We have fully responded to your question, as you asked the public authority to confirm costs incurred whether or not claims progressed to an ET hearing (2A) were in addition to the costs incurred for claims that progressed to an ET hearing (2B) over a 5 year period. We responded to your request as drafted and confirmed that these costs were not in addition. For the avoidance of doubt the figures provided in response to 2A and 2B include both workers and employees in line with your request.

We note that you have raised another question related to costs seeking yet additional information, now over a 10 year period with a breakdown of costs related to workers claims only for each year. We have already responded to 5 costs related requests since 28th May 2023, including this latest request for all ET costs incurred over a 5 year period.

As we advised in our response below, we are entitled to aggregate (total) the costs of complying for all related requests received within 60 working days from the same person or from people who seem to be working together. The time incurred in dealing with your requests for information in relation to costs incurred in dealing with ET matters has already exceeded the applicable cost limit we are therefore declining this further request on this basis under s14(1).

Kind regards

Enquiries Team
Sellafield Ltd

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