Tribunal statistics published: employers beware!

The Tribunals Service has published its annual statistics for 2009/10. The report includes statistics on Employment Tribunal claims in England and Wales for the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010. Below we discuss the report's findings and how they impact upon employers.

Increase in Employment Tribunal claims

In the review period a total of 236,100 claims were accepted by Employment Tribunals. This is an increase of 56% in the last year, confirming that Tribunal claims are currently at their highest ever level. The majority of this increase is due to multiple claims (a claim where two or more claimants bring claims against a single employer arising out of similar circumstances) that are being accepted. The number of multiple claims accepted by the Tribunal has increased by 90% since 2008/09. This would include the recent spate of equal pay claims against public sector employers. In comparison, the number of single claims accepted by the Tribunal has only risen by 14%. It appears the large rise in multiple claims could be a direct result of the current economic climate with employees adopting a ‘kitchen sink’ approach when bringing a claim.

The recession has forced many employers to make redundancies and introduce pay cuts, with some also tightening working conditions. It is no surprise that this has, in turn, affected the number of claims for unfair dismissal, breach of contract and redundancy. These types of claims have risen by 17% since 2008/09 with a current figure of 126,300 claims accepted in the Employment Tribunals. Increases were also reported in other jurisdictions: 95,200 claims related to the Working Time Regulations (the much publicised airline cases have seen 10,600 cases re-submitted every three months); 75,000 claims related to unauthorised deduction of wages.

At 31 March 2010, the Tribunals Service reported an outstanding caseload of 628,800 cases, an increase of 35% on the amount at 31 March 2009. Almost three fifths of the current caseload outstanding were multiple Employment Tribunal claims that were waiting to be heard.

On a positive note, for the period 2009/10, 71.4% of Tribunal users said that they were satisfied with the overall service they received from the Tribunals Service. A large percentage found that their telephone calls were answered quickly and they described the Tribunal staff as knowledgeable, polite and respectful.

Practice points

The high volume of claims appears to be linked to a backlog of cases and the rise in claims due to the recession. We may see a continuing rise in claims associated with the current downturn in the economy for the next review period.

However, not all hope is lost! Whilst there is a slower progress of claims through Tribunals, this does allow the parties involved further time to consider settlement and mediation in order to bring about a resolution without recourse to the uncertainties of litigation. Moreover, it is often a poor procedure that trips up employers and leads to claims which could have been avoided had the employer followed a fair procedure. This is illustrated by the numbers of claims for unfair dismissal and redundancy, where procedure is often called into question.

Now is a good time for employers to fully review their policies and procedures. Often employers seek to rush through a dismissal or a redundancy programme without stopping to review its procedure. Having clear and communicated policies and processes - and managers who are trained in them - may go some way in avoiding claims and from employers becoming a future statistic.

Consistent with our policy when giving comment and advice on a non-specific basis, we cannot assume legal responsibility for the accuracy of any particular statement. In the case of specific problems we recommend that professional advice be sought.

Back to news