The Ministry of Justice has published tribunal statistics for April – June 2018. Readers will be aware that tribunal caseloads have increased steadily since the abolition of tribunal fees in July 2017. That trend continues in the latest report. The key points are:
- The number of single claims lodged has more than doubled (up 165%) compared to same quarter last year.
- The time taken to dispose of single claim cases has remained unchanged at a mean average of 28 weeks.
- The number of single claims outstanding has more than doubled (up 130%).
- Of the complaints disposed of during April to June 2018, only 7% were successful at hearing. 25% were resolved by ACAS conciliated settlements, 26% were withdrawn, 18% were dismissed upon withdrawal and 9% were struck out (not at a hearing). The remaining 15% are unaccounted for but by deduction, some, if not all, must be those that were unsuccessful at hearing.
- Of the discrimination claims, disability claims received the largest average award (£30,700), whilst religious discrimination claims had the lowest average award (£5,100)
- The highest compensation awarded for unfair dismissal was £415,227 and the average (mean) award was £15,007.
- Over £10 million has been paid out in refund payments, since the fee refund scheme was launched in October 2017.
The HM Courts and Tribunal Service are in the process of recruiting more employment judges to meet the increasing demand. However, it is likely to take some time before enough new judges are in place to tackle the backlog.
The full report can be accessed here.