UK Employment Tribunal Backlog Continues to Grow Longer

The latest update from ARAG for you;

The backlog of employment tribunal cases is getting significantly worse, according to data released by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) last week.

The data released on Thursday provide a snapshot of the scale of the challenge facing the beleaguered employment tribunal system in January this year. Analysis by legal expenses insurer ARAG shows that the rate at which cases are being dealt with appears to have slowed. The year to January saw 27,398 case disposals, 19.6% fewer than was reported for the same period to January 2025.

At the same time, the number of new cases received over the year to January increased to almost 50,000, resulting in a dramatic rise in the number of cases outstanding. The ‘Open Caseload’ figure stood at 68,192 cases at the end of January this year, nearly 50% higher than in January 2025. The number of cases includes both ‘single claims’ brought by an individual claimant and ‘multiple claims’, so the total number of claims outstanding is over 500,000.

There are now just 9 months before the qualifying period of service required for an employee to claim unfair dismissal is cut from 2 years to 6 months, a change that is likely to result in many more tribunal claims being made.

Commenting on the latest data, ARAG’s Andy Talbot, Director of Broker, ATE & Marketing said:

“Over a year ago, we warned that the employment tribunal system could not cope with the increased demand that the proposed day-one right to claim unfair dismissal would bring.

The amendment to a 6-month qualifying period seemed like a sensible compromise, but it’s clear that employment tribunals are struggling with the volume of claims they are getting now.

This isn’t a new problem or even a hangover from the pandemic. The backlog of cases has been growing for a decade.

We know that the Ministry of Justice has taken steps to increase capacity but, with claims volumes likely to increase next year, it’s difficult to see the situation improving.

Justice delayed is certainly justice denied, but it also inhibits economic growth. Owners are less likely to invest in their small businesses or hire staff with employment claims hanging over them for years, and such delays are no easier or fairer for claimants.”

The data published by HMCTS last week show that the ‘Employment Tribunal Open Caseload’ stood at 68,192 cases, at the end of January. The total in January 2024 was 45,751.

A footnote to the HMCTS statistics notes that, for technical reasons, the data may still overcount the open caseload by an estimated 3%, but this would make little difference to the overall scale of the problem facing the employment tribunal system.