News
Number of employment tribunal cases falls
Published on 20th January 2012 by Kirstie Taylor
Statistics show ‘promising signs’ despite multiple claim spike
The number of employment tribunal claims dropped significantly between July and September 2011 compared to the same time a year ago, new Ministry of Justice figures show.
Between July and September there were 40,300 cases, a reduction of 30 per cent on the previous year.
Most of this decrease was accounted for by cases with multiple claimants, which went down by 41 per cent. However, the number of single claims also decreased slightly, by 1 per cent.
There were 26,700 case closures (disposals) made by employment tribunals in the period, a 16 per cent decrease compared to 2010, while single case closures dropped by 4 per cent and multiple disposed cases fell by 27 per cent.
Audrey Williams, partner at law firm Eversheds, said that it was too early to say whether the figures represented the start of a downward trend in the number of tribunal claims.
“The reduced number of claims is mostly accounted for by the fact that a large volume of holiday pay claims was brought by employees in the airline industry in 2010, which led to a spike in the statistics for that year,” Williams explained.
“Having said that, if multiple claims like this are stripped out of the statistics, there are still promising signs that the number of employment tribunal claims could be levelling off, with the volume of single claims declining by 1 per cent.”
She said that the last year had been characterised by a “seemingly relentless” year-on-year increase in claims.
“Although that trend might not have gone into reverse, these figures indicate that we might, at last, be seeing the beginning of the end of that pattern,” she added.
Reducing the number of employment tribunals is a key goal of the government in its attempts to reduce red tape for business and promote growth.
However, most of its proposed measures – including lengthening the qualifying period before a person can claim unfair dismissal and charging claimants fees for proceeding to a tribunal – are yet to take effect.
Commenting on the broader justice system statistics, courts minister Jonathan Djanogly said: “The figures show that sometimes the court process can simply be too time-consuming. That is why we have a comprehensive reform programme underway.”
There were 26,700 case closures (disposals) made by employment tribunals in the period, a 16 per cent decrease compared to 2010, while single case closures dropped by 4 per cent and multiple disposed cases fell by 27 per cent.
Audrey Williams, partner at law firm Eversheds, said that it was too early to say whether the figures represented the start of a downward trend in the number of tribunal claims.
“The reduced number of claims is mostly accounted for by the fact that a large volume of holiday pay claims was brought by employees in the airline industry in 2010, which led to a spike in the statistics for that year,” Williams explained.
“Having said that, if multiple claims like this are stripped out of the statistics, there are still promising signs that the number of employment tribunal claims could be levelling off, with the volume of single claims declining by 1 per cent.”
She said that the last year had been characterised by a “seemingly relentless” year-on-year increase in claims.
“Although that trend might not have gone into reverse, these figures indicate that we might, at last, be seeing the beginning of the end of that pattern,” she added.
Reducing the number of employment tribunals is a key goal of the government in its attempts to reduce red tape for business and promote growth.
However, most of its proposed measures – including lengthening the qualifying period before a person can claim unfair dismissal and charging claimants fees for proceeding to a tribunal – are yet to take effect.
Commenting on the broader justice system statistics, courts minister Jonathan Djanogly said: “The figures show that sometimes the court process can simply be too time-consuming. That is why we have a comprehensive reform programme underway.”
Source- People Management