Figures released by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on 14 December 2017 showed a 64 per cent increase in new single claim cases (Tribunals and gender recognition statistics quarterly, July to September 2017 (provisional)). The MoJ believes the increase ‘could be due to the abolition of employment tribunal [ET] fees on 26 July 2017’.

According to the statisticians at the ministry, since the second quarter in 2014/2015 the number of single claim receipts, which are mainly made up of unfair dismissal and illegal deductions from wages cases, has remained stable at around 4,200 claims per quarter. This was until the July–September 2017 quarter, in which 7,042 claims were received. There was a 15 per cent fall in multiple claims over the quarter, but the MoJ reports that, as the figures can contain a large number of claims against single employers, they ‘tend to be more volatile’.

From July 2013, the introduction of fees of up to £1,200 to bring a claim, such as for unfair dismissal, had dramatically reduced the number of cases brought before the ETs. The Supreme Court ruled in July 2017 that the fees were illegal due to their effect on access to justice (R (Unison) v Lord Chancellor [2017] UKSC 51).

Michael Reed, co-author of LAG’s Employment Tribunal Claims: tactics and precedents (4th edn, 2013), told Legal Action that the Free Representation Unit (where he works) has seen an increase in cases such as concerning illegal deductions from wages and estimates that there has been a 25 per cent increase in enquiries. Reed said it is ‘still hard to tell’ what the impact of the Supreme Court judgment has been ‘because the cases are still filtering through the tribunal system’ and ’25 per cent might be a substantial underestimate’.

According to a number of practitioners Legal Action has spoken to, over the years there have been peaks and troughs in the numbers of cases passing through the ET system. They say the MoJ has usually been able to rely on a pool of part-time judges to meet the demand for extra hearings, but because of the fall in cases after the introduction of fees many have not presided in tribunals regularly and have moved on to other work. There is also the fear that due to the closure of courts and tribunal buildings, as well as other cuts, the MoJ will not be able to increase the number of ETs, leading to long delays in cases being listed.