Employment tribunal claims: will waiting times continue to increase?

We've known for some time that employment tribunals are under pressure. Claims are often taking over a year to be heard and complex, multiday trials aren't being listed in some areas until 2027. The question is: Is there a potential solution, or will waiting times continue to rise?

The Ministry of Justice's latest quarterly Tribunal statistics for October to December 2024 indicate the scale of the problem. 

Current caseloads

From October to December 2024, there's been a significant rise in new claim receipts and open caseloads, while claim disposals decreased. Key statistics include:

• Single ET Claims: 11,000 new claims were received, 9,600 claims disposed of, and there were 43,000 open cases by the end of December 2024.
• Multiple ET Claims: 440 lead multiple cases were received, 530 cases were disposed of, and 6,800 of lead cases were open covering 15,000 multiple claim receipts, 4,300 disposals, and an open caseload of 424,000 by the end of December.

In total, there were 26,000 Employment Tribunal receipts, with 42% being single claims and 58% multiple claims. Tribunals disposed of 14,000 claims during this period, leaving 467,000 open claims by the end of December 2024.

Why are the numbers of claims increasing? 

Several factors are contributing to the rising number of claims, including:

• an increase in disputes between employees and employers (partly fuelled by the number of businesses facing economic pressures), and an increased willingness on the part of employees to litigate if they can't resolve these disputes internally 
• an increase in awareness about employment rights across the media following the introduction of the Employment Rights Bill which is currently being debated in parliament; and
• the introduction of the new digital case system which may have made it easier for individuals to lodge claims.

Employees have to go through a period of early conciliation before they can bring most claims. Recent data from ACAS data indicates they are dealing with more employment disputes. For example, it received 86,000 early conciliation notifications in the first nine months of the 2024/25 financial year. That was 4,500 more than expected and 9,000 higher than the previous year. 

By early 2025, ACAS had received 28,000 cases, 6,000 more than anticipated and 4,000 more than the previous year.

Will claims continue to increase?

We think so. The Employment Rights Bill is currently being debated in parliament and is likely to be passed before the summer. That will give employees a number of additional rights they don't currently enjoy and give them longer to lodge claims. 

There also appear to be economic headwinds that many employers didn't anticipate, caused by Trump's new tariffs. These come at a time when businesses are already under pressure due to increases in the national minimum wage and employer NI contributions. 

Regional waiting times

The time between lodging a claim and having it decided by a tribunal is going up. A recent employment tribunals national users group meeting revealed that: 

• Short hearings (1-2 days) are being scheduled across most regions in the first half of 2025, except for the South West and Wales, which are listing them in the second half of 2025. London South and the North West are listing in the first half of 2026.
• Medium length hearings (3-5 days) are either being listed in the second half of 2025 or the first half of 2026.
• Long hearings (6-10 days) the waiting times vary, with some regions able to hear cases in the second half of 2025 and others listing them as far ahead as 2027.
• Hearings longer than 10 days the waiting times are mixed, with some regions able to hear cases in the second half of 2025 and others listing them as far ahead as 2027.

The picture regarding judicial mediation is more positive - with most regional tribunals being able to schedule mediation at short notice, typically within six weeks.

What can you do to prevent claims?

You can take some basic steps to reduce the risk of being on the receiving end of an employment claim. 

Foster a positive working culture

If your staff enjoy coming to work (or at the very least, don't hate being there) they are less likely to come into conflict with the people they work with or complain about every little thing they perceive is unfair. It does take time to create a positive working environment but the steps you need to get there aren't especially difficult. Treat people with respect, don't expect your staff to all think the same way and make sure there are channels they can use to raise issues or make suggestions. And, don't forget that praise can go a long way towards staff feeling that they are appreciated and are making a difference. 

Have clear policies and procedures

Your policies should clearly explain the standards you expect your staff to follow, where they can get support and how you will deal complaints. Make sure that your line managers understand what your policies say and can confidently deal with issues that arise.

Training and development

Whilst you need decent and well written policies, they won't serve you well if they are tucked away on an intranet and only dusted off if there is a problem. Your staff need to understand what you expect of them. That's best achieved by having regular training sessions which should be delivered by professionals that understand employment law and can answer difficult questions.  

Promptly address issues

Don't let problems fester. If you deal with issues fairly and promptly, they are much less likely to morph into something bigger that becomes much more difficult to resolve. 

Maintain good records

If an employee does bring a claim against you, you will need to convince a tribunal that you acted fairly or reasonably. That's about evidence. If you have detailed records which back up what you did and why you did it, the employee will be hard pressed to say that you did something different. Being able to point to a document which says that you did x, is much better than trying to convince a tribunal that you did x, or worse, would have done x.

We can help

Our award winning team of employment lawyers can help you to navigate the complexities of employment law. We can:

• make sure that your policies and procedures put you in the best possible place to deal with issues you're likely to encounter
• give you pragmatic advice if you have an employment dispute; and 
• can represent if you receive a claim. 

Please speak to Darren Hogg for more information.

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