The Dickinson Dees Employment Tribunal Trends Index shows employers will face 370,000 more tribunal cases in the next three years (years ending 2011 to 2013) than they did in the previous three (years ending 2007 to 2009).
With an estimated average cost of £7,000 for every tribunal commenced, recession-battered employers will spend around £2.6 billion more defending themselves in the coming three years than the previous three - an increase of 46%. James Wilders, an employment partner at Dickinson Dees, said: "Since 1998 there has been an almost inexorable rise in the number of employment tribunals, with an average of 20,000 more new cases each year than in the previous one. This has been driven by numerous changes in employment law and regulations, combined with the increased damages available encouraging people, an increased awareness of workers' rights and no-win-no-fee legal advisers to mount more cases.
"While many of the employment law changes originated from the European Union and this often gets the blame, the real problems come from the way they have been enacted in the UK, often with additional or ambiguous requirements added. Legislation created in the UK is also a big cause of the relentless increase in tribunals, and there is strong evidence that case numbers increase even faster in the years after new legislation is enacted.
"Indeed, if the Equality Bill makes it through Parliament and isn't killed off by the general election, then there will potentially be a big increase in equal pay cases over the next couple of years.
"We expect the trend of rising tribunal numbers to continue upwards over the next few years, and it may well accelerate due to various new employment law changes expected over the next few years."
