Claimants seeking resolution at the Employment Tribunal are facing the highest backlog since records began, stripping workers of their ability to enforce their rights, new research from the Work Rights Centre reveals.

The report, Employment Tribunals in crisis: The blind spot in the ‘New Deal for Working People’, finds that as of December 2025, there were over 65,000 open cases awaiting resolution. This is the highest backlog since records began in 2017, and a staggering 43% increase in just 12 months.

While the government’s own impact assessment expects the newly passed Employment Rights Act 2025 to lead to a significant (18%) increase in cases, judicial capacity is far outpaced. Over the past three years, the backlog increased at more than three times the rate of available sitting days, and overall there are 19% fewer employment judges in post than in 2022.

Drawing on analysis of Ministry of Justice Statistics, data obtained through Freedom of Information requests, interviews with practitioners and analysis of National Tribunal User Group minutes, this research points to a system on the brink of collapse.

Key findings:

• Judicial capacity outpaced. In the two years to March 2025, the backlog increased at more than three times the rate of days judges sat in court. Secretary of State David Lammy has announced that 2026/27 will have fewer sitting days than both years prior, despite the government’s own estimate that the Employment Rights Act will lead to an 18% increase in...

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