The backlog of open cases at employment tribunals has continued to rise, hitting 49,800 at the end of 2024, a 23% increase on 39,000 cases that existed a year earlier, according to quarterly statistics from HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
The tribunal backlog means approximately 450,000 individuals, across single and multiple claims, are now waiting for their cases to be resolved.
Philip Cameron, partner at the law firm Littler, said there is still a “severe shortage” of qualified employment tribunal judges, meaning claimants and employers are having to wait far too long to have their cases resolved.
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Littler has previously warned that the introduction of a range of new workers’ rights in the Employment Rights Bill will lead to further increases to the employment tribunals’ already worrying backlog.
Ministry of Justice data shows the average waiting time for a single claim of unfair dismissal or discrimination at the employment tribunal is about a year.
Cameron said: “That’s just not fair on either party. Leaving businesses in legal limbo makes it harder for them to operate, that is a particularly acute problem for SMEs.”
“The government needs to supply proper additional funding to help the tribunals cope with the current backlog and deal with the likely surge in disputes that is expected after the Employment Bill becomes law.”
The number of claims lodged with the courts in the autumn reached 11,500, far exceeding the 10,100 cases that were resolved in that quarter. That is a 30% rise in claims lodged compared to the same quarter in 2023, when the tribunals received just 8,800 cases.
“Making unfair dismissal a ‘day-one’ right, even with probation periods permitted, is going to result in a big surge in claims,” added Cameron. “On top of that is the possibility of disputes arising from companies making redundancies as they try to cope with the recent increase in the minimum wage and employers’ national insurance.”
The abolition of tribunal fees in 2017 has also driven up the number of cases over the longer term, and tribunals have struggled to cut the backlog caused by the Covid pandemic’s disruption to hearings.
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