Employment tribunal statistics published for the period July to September 2025 show a significant increase in claims overall. The figures indicate that there are 515,000 claims outstanding, which is an increase of 54,000 from the same period in the previous year.
Facts
Employment Tribunal claims are counted as received (receipts) once a tribunal has accepted a claim as valid. Claims are classed as either single or multiple claims. Single claims are those brought by an individual employee, worker or applicant. Multiple claims are those brought by two or more people arising out of the same facts, usually against a common employer. They are usually processed administratively and managed judicially together. Both single and multiple claims can involve one or more jurisdictional complaints, for example claims of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal. On average, each claim includes between two and three jurisdictional complaints.
The most recent published statistics do not include details on the levels of tribunal awards. These are usually published in the annual report, expected in September 2026.
We have compared headline statistics from the quarterly report for Q2 2025/2026 with the equivalent statistics from Q2 2024/2025:
- There were 12,000 single claim receipts in Q2 2025/2026 and 10,000 in Q2 2024/2025, an increase of 20%.
- Tribunals disposed of 5,900 single claims in Q2 2025/2026 compared to 7,200 in Q2 2024/2025, a decrease of 18.1%.
- The total number of open single claims in Q2 2025/2026 was 52,000, a 30% increase from the 40,000 open single claims in Q2 2024/2025.
- In Q2 2025/2026, the tribunals received 14,000 multiple claims, the same number as in Q2 2024/2025.
- 4,600 multiple claims were disposed of in Q2 2025/2026, a decrease of 22% from 5,900 in Q2 2024/2025.
- The total number of open multiple claims in Q2 2025/2026 was 463,000, compared with 420,000 in Q2 2024/2025, representing an increase of 10.2%.
- At the end of the period, there were 515,000 open claims in the system, of which 52,000 were single claims and 463,000 were multiple claims.
- The tribunal's outstanding caseload increased by 54,000 (22.6%) compared to the same period in the previous year.
What does this mean for employers?
These statistics show that while more claimants are seeking to enforce their rights in the employment tribunals, the tribunals are disposing of fewer claims. The increase in claims will have added to the existing backlogs in the employment tribunal system, which are already causing claims to be listed into 2027 and 2028. This necessarily extends the lifecycle of claims, which can make them more challenging for employers to defend, as witnesses may leave the organisation and/or be unable to recall at a hearing the detail of events that took place many months or even years earlier.
We anticipate an even steeper increase in claims as the measures set out in the Employment Rights Act 2025 come into force. In particular, the extension of the tribunal limitation period for most claims from three months to six months, which is expected to take effect in October 2026, and the reduction in the unfair dismissal qualifying period to six months' continuous service, which is expected to come into force on 1 January 2027, are likely to generate a significant increase in claims. The government has indicated that it will provide additional resource to support the employment tribunal system but it remains to be seen how effective that will be.
