A fundamentally important provision (first introduced for employment tribunals in 2001 and for the Employment Appeal Tribunal in 2004) is the "overriding objective". The overriding objective is derived from the Civil Procedure Rules applicable in the Courts.

In general terms it means that employment tribunals and the EAT must try to see that the parties are on an equal footing, that cases are dealt with expeditiously and fairly in a way which is proportionate to "complexity or importance of the issues" and that unecessary expense is not incurred.

See also notes at Procedure of Employment Tribunals/2004 rules/background, general and amendments