Mounting Employment Tribunal backlogs are causing major delays in dealing with ongoing claims, leading to additional pressures for businesses and claimants, according to a leading employment lawyer.

Tim Jones, Head of Employment Law at Higgs LLP, said the Employment Tribunal continued to suffer severe delays due to the amount of claims being issued and insufficient resources to meet that demand.

Calling for a “whole system reboot”, he warned the delays caused by pandemic only served to exacerbate the underfunding in the Tribunals Service.

“The process can be painfully slow at the moment,” said Tim. “I am advising on a fairly straightforward disability discrimination case currently and the preliminary hearing was due in May. That has been postponed until November when we’ll get directions, with the hearing likely to be well into 2024.

“It’s partly a Covid hangover but it’s also the consequence underfunding. The Government has invested into the Employment Tribunal system to try and clear the backlog, but that is a drop in the ocean, really. The whole system needs a re-boot.”

Higgs has taken an in-depth look at Employment Tribunal data for 2023 and over the last 10 years. Read the report here.

According to figures released by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the Employment Tribunal backlog is still increasing. In 2022, there were 50,518 cases – a new record and an increase of 3,477 on 2021.

But Tim has also raised concerns about the number of hearings that are still...

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