News
Employment Tribunal claims increase
8 July 2010
The Tribunals Service annual report for 2009-10 shows a 56% increase from 2008/09 in the number of claims accepted by Employment Tribunals, which reached 236,100 - their highest ever level. This is mainly attributable to multiple claims (which rose by nearly 90%), but there was also a 14% increase in the number of single claims.
Within these totals there was an increase of 17% in the number of tribunal claims associated with unfair dismissal, breach of contract and redundancy (to a total of 126,300) which was likely to be a result of the recession.
Although Employment Tribunals disposed of 112,400 claims (22% more than in 2008-09) this did not keep pace with receipts with the result that more than 400,000 claims remained outstanding.
Discrimination claims increased 8% over 2008-09 to a total of 38,310. Almost half of these were sex discrimination claims, although they fell slightly in the year. Age discrimination claims increased at the fastest rate (37%), more than double the rate of increase for claims relating to sexual orientation, race, or disability. Discrimination claims relating to religion or belief increased by 20%. The success rates for discrimination claims remains low, at between 2-5% across the different grounds.
The full report is here.