Concerns raised over record Employment Tribunal backlog as outstanding claims rise 8% in year

Legal expenses insurance group ARAG has warned that an "intolerable" backlog of employment tribunal claims that number almost half a million is leading to increased costs and threatens to jeopardise tribunal outcomes.

Data from HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) show that the Employment Tribunal had 475,000 outstanding cases awaiting a hearing.

This is down from a peak of 506,000 outstanding claims last year. However, ARAG suggests that analysing single claims offers a "clearer picture of the backlog in the tribunal system".

According to the data, 44,758 single claims were outstanding at the end of 2022, the highest since records began in 2008. The figure represents an 8% increase from last year and almost double the total a decade ago, analysis from ARAG shows.

Commenting on the data, ARAG's Underwriting Director, David Haynes, said that while the pandemic impacted tribunal hearings, the latest data "points to much deeper issues".

He added: "This isn't a new problem. The overall number of claims outstanding can rise or fall with the receipt or disposal of one multiple claim, but the total number of cases received by HMCTS has outstripped the number disposed of, in every quarter but one since 2015.

"The situation is as intolerable for businesses at it is for the employees waiting for their cases to be heard. We're still seeing cases wait a year to reach even a preliminary hearing, leaving both parties in limbo. Over such a long time, costs increase, recollections fade and satisfactory outcomes can be jeopardised."

Last month, in response to a question in Parliament, the Ministry of Justice published data showing that the average waiting time between receipt of an employment tribunal claim and the first hearing had risen from 30 weeks in 2011 to 49 weeks at the end of March 2021.

Adam Carey