Employment Tribunal Hearing Bundle: How to Prepare One

The hearing bundle is the working file for the employment tribunal hearing: one shared, indexed, page-numbered set of documents that the judge, both parties and the witnesses use. When someone says "look at page 142", everyone should see the same email.

This guide is for claimants in England and Wales, especially litigants in person. It links to evidence, witness statements and hearing day.

Bundle vs disclosure vs your own file

Disclosure duties include documents that hurt your case as well as help it. The bundle should still be manageable and focused on what will actually be referred to - but not sanitised into a fiction.

Who builds it?

The case management order is the authority. Common pattern:

• Respondent prepares a joint bundle
• Claimant agrees the index and supplies missing items
• Both sides use identical pagination

If you are ordered to prepare the bundle, start earlier than you think. Pagination errors cascade into witness statements.

What usually goes in

Typical sections (adapt to your claim):

1. Claim and response (ET1, ET3, any additional information)
2. Case management orders and key applications
3. Contract, job description, handbook extracts
4. Chronology of events (emails, letters, messages)
5. Grievance / disciplinary / redundancy paperwork
6. Policies relied on
7. Remedy documents (payslips, job search, medical evidence if relevant)

Witness statements are sometimes in a separate statements bundle, sometimes in the main bundle - follow the order.

How big should it be?

Bigger is not safer. Tribunals repeatedly criticise over-stuffed bundles that bury the handful of documents a case actually turns on. Aim for everything genuinely relevant and nothing padded: if a document will not be referred to in a witness statement, in cross-examination, or in submissions, question whether it earns its page. A focused 150-page bundle usually serves a straightforward unfair dismissal claim better than 600 pages of duplicated email threads and read receipts. Judges have limited reading time, and a lean, well-ordered bundle is itself a form of advocacy.

Pagination and indexing

Good practice:

• Continuous page numbers from 1 to the end (or clear section-based numbering if the tribunal allows, used consistently)
• An index at the front listing each document and page
• Identical electronic bookmarks if the bundle is PDF
• Colour charts only if ordered / agreed - clarity beats decoration

Your witness statement should say "Bundle p.57", not "the email from March".

Joint bundles and disputes

Try to agree contents. If you disagree:

1. Write a short reasoned list of additions/removals.
2. Propose a deadline.
3. If stuck, apply to the tribunal rather than ambushing on the day.

Judges dislike late document dumps. They also dislike empty bundles missing the core letters.

Redaction and sensitive material

Some documents contain other people's personal data, medical details, or without-prejudice settlement correspondence. Redact third-party personal data that is not relevant to the issues, and keep genuinely without-prejudice material out of the open bundle unless a recognised exception applies. If you are unsure whether something is privileged or protected, flag it to the other side and, if needed, ask the tribunal - do not quietly drop a document simply because it hurts you, because disclosure duties still bite and a suppressed document surfacing later damages your credibility far more than the document itself would have.

Electronic hearings

For video hearings, test:

• You can open the same PDF the tribunal has
• Search works
• You can jump to a page quickly
• Your internet and screen setup let you see the document and the panel

Have a backup (second device or printed core documents) if the order allows.

If you are unrepresented

You are held to the same bundle rules as a represented party, but tribunals usually give reasonable latitude on format to a litigant in person. Ask the employer's representative, early and in writing, who is compiling the bundle and by when. Keep your own clearly labelled copy of every document even after you hand it over, so a pagination change or a "lost" email is easy to correct. If the employer goes silent, send a short chase, then apply to the tribunal for a direction rather than waiting - the practical burden of an incomplete bundle often falls on the person who did not raise the gap in time.

Common mistakes

Timeline (typical)

Exact dates come from your case management order. In outline:

1. Disclosure lists and inspection
2. Agree bundle index
3. Paginate
4. Exchange witness statements (with page refs)
5. Lodge bundle with tribunal
6. Hearing

Keep these dates next to your original claim deadline habits - different clocks, same need for a calendar.

Key takeaway

A hearing bundle is not stationery - it is how the tribunal experiences your evidence. Agree the index early, paginate once and freeze it, align witness statements to those pages, and fight document disputes in writing before the hearing, not in the first five minutes of the day.