Employment Tribunal Statistics

On 18 October the Government published a report giving the quarterly (provisional) statistics for Employment Tribunal (“ET”) claims, covering the period July to September 2013.

On 18 October the Government published a report giving the quarterly (provisional) statistics for Employment Tribunal (“ET”) claims, covering the period July to September 2013.

There was an average of 17,000 claims per month accepted by the ET between January and May 2013.  However, there were 25,000 claims in June and 17,000 in July. The increase in June is most likely explained by the fact that many Claimants chose to avoid ET fees by issuing their claims before 29 July.

There were only 7,000 claims accepted in August. In September 14,000 claims were accepted, not in itself much of a change, though the statistics do show a significant fall in the number of single claims accepted in September 2013 when compared to September 2012 (those involving one individual and one Employer).

Whilst it may appear that claims levels have reduced since the introduction of fees, the report urges caution because many claims are still 'on hold' awaiting payment of the relevant fee (or confirmation of remission). The statistics may therefore change once these claims are taken into account, as at present these claims are not considered ‘accepted claims’ and are not counted in these figures.

The number of multiple claims (those brought by two or more individuals against a common Employer) held steady from April 2013 onwards, spiked in July (again, probably due to the introduction of ET fees) before falling again in August and September.

It would be easy to read too much into these statistics, and revisions to the numbers are likely to be seen in the December report Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service’s December publication.

We will provide a further update in due course. As the current statistics only include data from the first two months (August and September) after the introduction of ET fees, it is hoped that the Government’s next report will provide evidence of more conclusive trends, although anecdotally, Tribunal offices and ACAS report that claims numbers remain low.

A copy of the report can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-tribunal-receipt-statistics-management-information-july-to-september-2013