Stephen Levinson studies employment tribunal statistics & government policy
The government believes that economic growth is hampered by the employment tribunal system. The annual statistics of tribunal performance published by the Ministry of Justice give an opportunity to determine the degree to which reality intrudes on this belief and this article examines some of the information for the year to 31 March 2012 and any implications for the new laws we have been promised.
Claims accepted
There has been a 15% drop in claims accepted over the previous year. Most of the decline is attributable to so called multiple claims where more than one employee claims against the same employer. To a large extent these are the equal pay claims against NHS trusts and local authorities and working time claims against airlines. Claims by single individuals are down by only 2% over the same period. More significantly there has been a reduction in the number of claim disposed of in the year, which is down by 10%. This may have implications for an increase in the backlog of cases.
