Substantial Increase In Employment Tribunal Claims Due To The Coronavirus

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has released quarterly statistics covering April to June 2020 which show that there has been a substantial increase in the amount of single Employment Tribunal claims.

The figures state that the number of single claims increased by 18% (in comparison to the same quarter last year) to 10,000, with many predicting that the number of Employment Tribunal claims will increase further over the coming months due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on businesses and the furlough scheme coming to an end. However, it is worth noting that the number of multiple claims decreased by 43% during this three month period.

The increase in single Employment Tribunal claims is being attributed to the rise in unemployment across the country (Office for National Statistics has stated that the unemployment rate has increased to 4.1% in the same quarterly period, up from 3.9% on the previous quarter) and changes to working conditions caused by the coronavirus.

Employment Tribunal backlog

The knock-on effect of the rise in single claims has subsequently meant that the number of outstanding Employment Tribunal cases has increased to 31% (37,000 cases), which is a new record amount (the previous peak amount was in April to June 2009/10).

In a bid to tackle the rise in cases and to provide greater support, the Government has stated that there will be extra investment in audio and video technology which will allow for more remote hearings to take place, and provided extra capacity to hear Employment Tribunal cases via Nightingale Courts.

Additionally, from tomorrow, legal officers will be permitted to carry out administrative tasks that only employment Judges have previously been able to undertake, and Judges from other legal areas will be deployed to the Employment Tribunal to deal with the backlog of cases.