New data, which has just been released by the HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), has revealed that the Employment Tribunal backlog is still increasing.
Tribunal Backlog
The new data from the HMCTS for the year 2022 has revealed that the Employment Tribunal backlog has reached 50,518 cases, which is a new record. That is an increase of 3,477, compared with the previous year, in which the total Tribunal backlog had reached 47,041.
Backlog Likely To Increase Yet Further
Moreover, the Tribunal backlog shows no sign of reducing anytime soon because in each and every month of 2022, except one, the number of cases commenced in the Employment Tribunal exceeded the number of cases disposed of. For example, in December 2022, 2,363 were commenced, whereas just 2,301 were disposed of, which represents a net increase in the Tribunal backlog of 62 cases. The highest net increase in 2022 occurred in April 2022 when there was increase of 540 cases. The one month in which there was a net decrease was August 2022, when there was a fall of 33 cases.
Causes
The main factors which have brough about the Employment Tribunal backlog are as follows:-
- The abolition of Employment Tribunal fees in 2017 has led to large increases in the number of cases being commenced year on year since the abolition. By the end of 2017, for instance, the number of single claims had increased by 90% and the number of multiple claims had increased by 467%. By September 2018, the number of cases had increased by 130% overall. That upward trend has continued ever since
- Funding cuts by the Government since 2010 have led to a reduction in staff and resources available to the Employment Tribunal, meaning that it has become more difficult to process cases efficiently, leading to longer waiting times for hearings and judgments. The Government has to some extent attempted to reverse this in recent times by recruiting more Judges to handle cases, increases staffing levels, and by investing in new technology. Moreover, in December 2022, the Government announced an increase of £2.85 million in funding and an increase to the number of days that Judges can sit.
- The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic led to enormous delays in cases being progressed, as well as a large increases in cases caused by the effects of the pandemic itself (e.g redundancies, staff refusing to work, health and safety compliance, furlough scheme issues, etc), with the number of new cases increasing by 27% during the first year of the pandemic alone. This was an increase that was far higher than in each of the previous 3 years.
Reaction
Commenting upon the Tribunal backlog, the president of the employment tribunal in England and Wales, Judge Barry Clarke, stated in the Annual Report: "We continue with a significant problem of excessive waiting times, especially in London and the South East of England. Such delays inevitably prompt complaints and time-consuming correspondence both for civil servants and leadership judges. There are many reasons for these delays: the increase in work after the abolition of ET fees in July 2017; the suspension of full merits hearings in the early months of the pandemic; and the fact that, for a long time, we had too few judges."
High Staff Turnover
Judge Clarke added: "We [also] have witnessed a high turnover of staff in many of our regional offices, while remaining significantly understaffed in many locations."
Funding
Moreover, the chair of the Employment Lawyers Association, Paul McFarlane, pointed out: "Delays do not help employers or employees who want to get cases resolved quickly. We need to see more details of the government investment but at the moment it looks like a sticking plaster over a big wound....The emotional drain on someone cannot be underestimated."
Nevertheless, a representative for the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) emphasised that the Government is attempting to get on top of the Tribunal backlog. They stated: "We are investing nearly £3mn to increase the number of days employment tribunals can operate so around 1,700 more cases can be heard over the next three months."
