The Ministry of Justice has published its “provisional management information” showing receipt of Employment Tribunal claims up to September 2013, in light of Employment Tribunal fees now being in effect for all claims issued after 29 July 2013.
It was envisaged that there would be a surge in claims in the period leading up to 29 July 2013, with a rush for Claimants to avoid the fees associated with issuing a claim, with the period between July and September subsequently quietening down.
It appears that between 4,421 and 5,066 claims were submitted each month for the first six months of 2013, with a peak in claims in July as envisaged (7,307 in total). Submissions also lessened as expected for August (3,645) and September (1,117). These claims could be a statistical anomaly, however, as since the new fees system was introduced, claims are only officially logged after the fee is paid or a remission application granted and therefore it is possible that this delay has resulted in claims issued in the previous month being reflected in the incorrect month’s statistics.
The statistics also show that there has been an increase in multiple claims submitted to the Employment Tribunal, but a reduction in single claims of 7.7%.
The median award for Unfair Dismissal rose to £4,832, but the greatest number of Claimants received awards between £1,000 and £1,999. Disability discrimination had the highest median award for all discrimination claims, of £7,536. Finally, the statistics show that there were 48 costs awards made in favour of the Respondent of over £10,000 – in previous years, only 8 such awards were made annually (but this could reflect the fact that Employment Tribunals now have the power to award up to £20,000 in costs in relation to any case presented after 6 April 2012).
It is envisaged that the Employment Tribunals Service will publish its next set of statistics 12 December 2013.
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