The employment tribunal system is going through unprecedented pressure, with a backlog of greater than half 1,000,000 claims elevating critical doubts over its capability to deal with an anticipated surge in instances beneath Labour’s proposed growth of employees’ rights.
Newest tribunal statistics for the second quarter of the yr, protecting July to September 2025, present that lively claims — together with each single and a number of instances — climbed to 515,000 by the top of September. The variety of open employment tribunal instances alone rose to 52,000, a 33 per cent improve in contrast with the identical interval final yr.
The figures underline the dimensions of the problem going through ministers as they push forward with the Employment Rights Invoice, which is designed to strengthen worker protections however would rely closely on an already overstretched tribunal system for enforcement.
Rob McKellar, authorized providers director at HR providers agency Peninsula, mentioned the info pointed to a system beneath extreme strain.
“With the present backlog of over half 1,000,000 claims, and a few areas itemizing instances for 2028, it’s clear that strain on the tribunal system is greater than ever earlier than,” he mentioned.
Unfair dismissal was the one largest class of recent claims through the quarter, accounting for practically 1 / 4 of instances, with 4,766 lodged. Incapacity discrimination claims represented 14.8 per cent of the whole, whereas unauthorised deductions of wages made up 12.2 per cent.
McKellar warned that the scenario may worsen considerably if the Employment Rights Invoice turns into regulation in its present kind.
“The federal government’s personal figures estimate that an additional six million individuals will achieve the suitable to convey unfair dismissal claims as soon as the invoice comes into pressure, because the qualifying interval drops from two years’ service to only six months,” he mentioned.
The laws, which was diluted final month following strain from enterprise teams, stays stalled within the Home of Lords. Friends are persevering with to push for a cap on compensation payouts in unfair dismissal instances, arguing that limitless awards would additional clog the tribunal system.
In a joint assertion, six main enterprise teams warned that proposals to loosen limits on compensation threat “exacerbating the challenges going through the tribunal system”, including to delays that already go away claimants and employers ready years for decision.
Regardless of lingering considerations over a number of the invoice’s provisions, the enterprise teams mentioned they now imagine the laws ought to be handed to supply certainty. Downing Avenue has mentioned the employees’ rights reforms are anticipated to turn into regulation earlier than Christmas.
The mounting tribunal backlog comes in opposition to a backdrop of cooling hiring exercise. Considerations over employment reform and wider financial uncertainty weighed on recruitment forward of the finances, with new job adverts falling for a second consecutive month in November. Vacancies dropped by 14.4 per cent from October to 622,156, based on information from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.
For employers and workers alike, the figures spotlight a rising threat that expanded rights might outpace the system designed to uphold them, leaving justice delayed — and probably denied — as claims proceed to pile up.
