The good news is that tribunals only accepted 186,300 claims, a 15% drop on the previous year. This is similar to the 2007/2008 numbers, and a significant drop from the peak in 2009/2010 of 236,100 claims. The majority of claims concerned working time, unauthorised deduction from wages and unfair dismissal.
The bad news is that the tribunal only managed to dispose of 110,800 claims - meaning an overhang into the following year of over one-third of all cases accepted.
The Government is determined to reduce the number of claims and has taken a number of steps to do so. These include increasing the qualifying period for raising a claim from one to two years. Future plans include fees for claimants, early ACAS referral and simplified settlement discussions and agreements. These are likely to result in a further drop in the number of claims going to tribunal over the coming years.
How significant the drop is remains to be seen. Employment tribunals deal with many people who have lost their jobs, so those bringing claims are likely to be receiving state benefits, even for a short period, and the remission system often means that a large proportion of people are exempt from paying fees and so won't necessarily be deterred from bringing a claim.
The proposed changes are likely to have an impact on settlement negotiations too. A claimant may be more open to settlement prior to the expensive hearing fee being paid. However, once the claimant has paid this, they are likely to be more reluctant to settle, as they will have already paid substantial fees that are non-refundable.
Further highlights from the 2011/2012 statistics include the somewhat surprising news that age discrimination claims have dropped significantly, from 6,800 last year to 3,700 this year. There has also been a significant fall in sex discrimination claims, which are down from 18,300 to 10,800.
However, overall the statistics raised no great shocks this year. The marginal reduction in single claims was to be expected, as the turmoil caused by the early years of the financial crisis works itself through the tribunal system. While the outstanding workload is substantial, when the working time cases for airline employees (a leftover of the British Airways strikes) are disposed of, the figures will look somewhat healthier.
It will be interesting to see over the coming years what effect the introduction of a listing and hearing fee will have upon the numbers of claims received by the tribunal, although any deterrent to unmeritorious claims will surely be welcome to employers.
