Annual Figure Reveals Significant Fall Of 20,000

The Government has today released statistics for the number of employment tribunal claims lodged during the first quarter of 2014.

The figures demonstrate that between January to March 2014, 5,619 single claims were brought forward. This represented an increase on the previous three month period when 4,969 cases were recorded.

Although this signified a rise in the number of cases compared to 2013 Q4, the figure was considerably down on the same period last year when 13,491 single claims were lodged.

Looking at the most recent 12 month period as a whole, the number of single claims was over 20,000 lower.

During that period there have been significant changes to the laws surrounding employment tribunals. Last July, the Government introduced a range of fees for lodging claims and appeals and for taking them to a full hearing.

From last month it also became mandatory for employees and employers to explore the option of early conciliation via ACAS. This has meant that employees cannot take their dispute to the tribunal stage until they have been issued with a certificate to prove that they have attempted this option.

Expert Opinion

Although the quarterly figure for employment tribunals in relation to individual claims increased compared to the previous quarter, they are still significantly below the number we saw in the same quarter last year.

“There was in fact a 20,000 reduction in single claims last year compared to the previous 12 months and this clearly reflects the impact that the introduction of fees has had on claimants’ willingness to bring claims.

“There are a number of other factors in addition to the introduction of fees that could be influencing these numbers. Key reasons could include the increase to two years of the qualification period for unfair dismissal, the change to compensation on unfair dismissals, and employees trying to resolve their disputes in other ways. ACAS, for example, offers a pre-claim conciliation service which is free to use whilst it is also possible that employees with contract claims are using the small claims courts to resolve disputes as the fees are significantly cheaper than those payable in the Employment Tribunal.”
Glenn Hayes - Partner & National Head of Employment Law