Acas is required under regulations set out in the Equality Act 2010 to maintain a panel of Independent Experts. A judge at an Employment Tribunal will decide if services of an Independent Expert (IE) are required and will request Acas to provide such an expert(s) from the panel.
Independent experts assist the judge to resolve equal value disputes. In cases involving small numbers of claimants, the IE will work alone, but in cases involving multiple claimants and comparators, generally work is carried out with other independent experts.
The role of the IE is to compare two or more completely different jobs specified in the case and assess whether they are of equal value and to provide the reasons for these conclusions, avoiding discrimination.
When the IEs are appointed to a case, they assess the jobs in question against factors such as skills, physical effort, and decision making and produce a report stating whether the jobs are of equal value. This report is sent to the employment tribunal and all parties involved in the case.
Once the independent expert has produced their report, they may be cross examined at the employment tribunal by the parties' legal representatives if they feel that the independent expert has come to the wrong conclusion.
The employment tribunal decides whether to accept the independent expert's report and whether the jobs being compared are of equal value or not.
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