Fall in Employment Tribunal claims
Recently published statistics from the Tribunals Service showed there was a 15% decrease in the number of claims that made it to an employment tribunal between April 2011 and March 2012.
186,300 claims were made last year compared with 2010-11 when there were 218,100 claims. This is a continuation of the decrease seen in 2009-10, when the figure totalled 236,100.
The biggest decreases were in the number of discrimination claims submitted, which fell by 26% from the previous year. Whilst sexual discrimination claims were again the most common type of discrimination claim made, these still fell by 41% from 2010-11 when 18,300 claims were made compared with 10,800 in 2011-12. There was also a 46% decrease in claims bought on the grounds of age discrimination, with only 3,700 claims which is the lowest figure since 2007-8.
Unfair dismissal claims fell from 47,900 to 46,300 and breach of contract claims fell from 34,600 to 32,100. However, the number of claims for failure to inform and consult during a TUPE (transfer of undertaking) process, increased from 1,900 in 2010-11 to 2,600 in 2011-12.
The Government hopes that the number of Employment Tribunal claims will be further reduced, with the increase in the qualifying period for raising a Tribunal claim from 1 to 2 years which came into force in April 2102, as well as the future planned introduction of Tribunal fees for Claimants, early ACAS conciliation and simplified settlement discussions process.