New ET rules on postponements will come into force in April. The changes will be included in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 following a consultation that ended in March 2015.

33 responses were received and the views put forward were, in the author's own words 'mixed', but the proposals will go ahead as originally envisaged.

The changes provide that:

* where a party has been granted two previous postponements of hearings in the same case, any further applications by that party for a postponement will only be granted in exceptional circumstances. * any application for a postponement presented less than seven days before the date of the relevant hearing or made at the hearing itself shall only be granted in exceptional circumstances. * Tribunals will be obliged to consider the imposition of a cost order or a preparation time order against a party that is granted a late postponement. A late postponement is a postponement which is applied for less than seven days before the hearing.

The full response can be found on the GOV.uk website.