Collating documents promptly and including clauses in settlement agreements can help prevent ‘considerable difficulties’ for businesses, commentators say
The number of outstanding employment tribunal cases that are awaiting a hearing or decision reached 50,000 at the end of last year, according to new analysis.
The research, based on HM Courts & Tribunals Service records, discovered that there were 50,518 outstanding cases in the system in December 2022, up from 47,041 in December 2021, with the backlog steadily increasing month after month.
The Law Society of England and Wales has issued a warning that mounting tribunal backlogs are leaving employees and businesses in "limbo" for too long.
Rachel Mathieson, senior associate in the employment department at Bates Wells, told People Management that delays in the tribunal system can cause “considerable difficulties” for businesses and HR teams in defending claims.
“Witnesses’ recollections of the facts of the case are likely to become impaired and witnesses may have even left the business by the time the hearing takes place. This can, in extreme circumstances, leave a business effectively unable to defend a claim,” she said.
Businesses should conduct document collation and witness statements as soon as a claim form is received, regardless of whether deadlines are far in the future, she advised.
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