The number of Employment Tribunal claims have increased threefold from July to September 2017 compared with the previous quarter, following the ruling of fees as unlawful by the Supreme Court in July. Claims increased by 120% to 30,339 compared with 13,759 during the previous quarter, which is the strongest indicator yet that fees for Employment Tribunals were previously deterring employees from making claims, legal experts at Lupton Fawcett suggest.
The total figure consists of single claims and multiple claims, the latter referring to cases where a number of employees bring a claim against the same employer.
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Justice, there were 7,042 single claims received in July to September 2017, compared to 4,241 in the period April to June 2017, showing a 66% increase since Employment Tribunal fees were abolished. There was also a 144% rise in multiple claims, with 23,297 received that quarter, compared to 9,518 in the previous quarter. The multiple claims related to 429 multiple claim cases – an average of 54 claims per case.
Andrew Gilchrist, director and head of the employment law department at Lupton Fawcett, said: “It’s clear that many people were discouraged from bringing claims due to the Employment Tribunal fees that were abolished earlier this year. The massive increase in multiple claims, which tend to be more volatile as they can be made up of a high number of claims against a single employer, indicates there is a large number of employees who are currently dissatisfied.”
During the year to September 2017, 75,250 claims were received by the Tribunal service, of which 15,535 were single cases and 59,715 were multiple claims. In the same period, 10,035 claims were brought for unauthorised wage deductions, 10,192 for unfair dismissal, and 17,166 for equal pay.
Almost half of equal pay cases (7,563) were brought between July and September 2017, which was the largest jurisdictional increase.
When comparing this data with statistics for the period January to September 2016, total claim numbers have slightly decreased by 2%.
Andrew said: “Despite there being a decrease year on year, we predict there will be a significant difference when annual statistics are released in 2018, as claims are likely to remain at this level for some time. Employees who could not previously afford to take their employer to the Tribunal are now coming forward and making claims.
“For employers, the abolition of Employment Tribunal fees will have brought challenges. Our advice is to be far more careful when it comes to dealing with employee issues, and if in doubt, to take legal advice, as the consequences of not doing so can be significant.
“Businesses should allow adequate time for employees to air their concerns, and look at the way they treat their employees, so as to reduce the likelihood of employees bringing cases against them.”
