The Claimant appealed against various directions and orders that had been made at a preliminary hearing on jurisdictional issues on the basis that the 'initial consideration' had been made before the ET3 had been received by the ET. Also, the Claimant had applied to have the case transferred but the preliminary hearing to consider that application was listed after the preliminary hearing on jurisdictional issues - he appealed against that decision.

The EAT allowed the appeal. First, the effect of Rules 26 and 54 is that the Tribunal's jurisdiction for 'initial consideration' and any consequent direction for a preliminary hearing is dependent on receipt of the ET3 response; second, the transfer application should have been listed for preliminary hearing before, not after, the preliminary hearing on the jurisdictional issues.