Witness statements for employment tribunal

[Spirograph]

Hi,

Is there a post with advice on witness statements already?

I specifically wanted to know the following:
How long is too long for one? I wanted to give as much information as possible but don't want to find out when it's too late that I've gone into too much detail.
Can family and friends provide them? Does that detract from their credibility in any way?

Are there any other helpful points I need to consider?

Thanks in advance

[ULA]

In terms of your witness statement (WS) for an ET claim there are two things to bear in mind one is layout and the second is content. On the layout the WS must be written in the first person, use one and a half line spacing and use a font that is not too small to read. The WS is an account of the events that took place at work, and also what has happened since then. It should be in chronological order, with numbered paragraphs, for example:

1. On 20 November 2019, I did this, or I did that
2. On 30 November 2019, Mr Jones of the Respondent did this or that
3. etc

In the content the aim is not to repeat what you have already stated in your ET1 claim, however what you want to do is:

1. Add in the detail or any additional information surrounding the events that you are making the claim about. Be very specific about dates/time/potential witnesses
2. Comments on the ET3
3. Detail your attempts to mitigate your loss (i.e. get another job) if appropriate to your claim.
4. Comments on the documents disclosed by the other side, which you will not have seen at the time you submitted your ET1. If there are any documents which are clearly missing, and perhaps withheld intentionally then you can add comment about them.
5. Comment on any written answers or further information obtained from the Respondent after proceeding started.

When you are commenting on the documents, it is good practice to refer to page numbers of the bundle, as the judge will be grateful when trying to cross reference your statement with the paginated bundle of documents which will be used in Tribunal.

Keep your WS succinct and to the point so no needless waffle.

Family and friends can only really provide witness statements if they witnessed the events at work for which you are making your claim.

Hope that helps but if you need anything else then please come back and ask.

[Spirograph]

Thank you so much for this, it's all really helpful*