Tribunal backlog worsens ahead of employment reforms
The backlog at the Employment Tribunal has jumped nearly 28 per cent over the last year, putting the government in an awkward position ahead of its highly contentious Employment Rights Bill.
According to HM Courts & Tribunals Service data obtained by law firm Littler, there are 49,800 cases waiting to be heard by a Tribunal at the end of the final quarter of last year, up from 39,000 in the same period of 2023.
This comes as a Bill focused on employment reforms, which included ending exploitative zero-hour contracts, banning fire and rehire tactics and extending employment rights from day one, nears its final stages in Parliament.
Joe Beeston, partner at Forster’s, said that the Employment Tribunals system is under strain.
“Matters are taking an age to get in front of a judge (often taking well over a year), and we are seeing an increase in hearings being rescheduled at the last minute (including sometimes on the morning of the day the hearing is due to start) after all the time and cost has been incurred,” he explained.
Beeston noted that “this situation is only likely to be compounded by the introduction of the Employment Rights Bill, which is expected to increase the volume of claims brought before tribunals.”
Data last month revealed that employment lawyers are in hot demand, and law firms are actively seeking to expand their practices.
According to a report by recruitment consultant EJ Legal and labour market data analytics firm Vacancysoft, employment law vacancies rose nearly 34 per cent in 2024.
The new data on the Tribunal comes as no shock, as City AM reported last August that the Employment Tribunal was already dealing with a backlog of cases from the pandemic.
At the time, one lawyer raised concerns that the “situation may worsen when dealing with a whole new set of laws.”