The claimant was a teacher at Dowdales School from 1 September 1999 until he was dismissed for misconduct on 24 April 2009. His contract of employment was with Cumbria County Council; however the day to day running of the school was undertaken by the Governing Body of Dowdales School. The Claimant subsequently brought proceedings against the Respondent. It was held that the dismissal was unfair. However the Employment Tribunal also concluded that the Claimant had contributed to his dismissal, reducing his compensation by 15% to reflect his blameworthiness. After dismissal the Claimant was convicted of common assault on a 16-year-old girl. The girl was a former pupil of the Claimant and he was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment.

The issue was whether the ET should have had regard to evidence relating to that conviction when assessing the compensatory award, in particular his pension loss. The ET considered that the decision in Soros v Davison [1994] ICR 590 prevented it from doing so. He was awarded over £70,000 in compensation, which was made up of the basic award and the compensatory award (including loss of pension). The Respondent appealed.

The EAT allowed the appeal finding that the ET had erred in its approach. The Claimant's conviction and sentence may have substantially reduced his pension loss and the ET determining the compensatory award would be entitled to take into account that evidence, and should have done so in the present case. The principles in Scope v Thornett [2007] IRLR 155 and Software 2000 Ltd v Andrews [2007] IRLR 568 applied. The EAT held the case should be remitted to a newly constituted Tribunal for consideration. http://bit.ly/1eXlkLj