In the most recent quarterly update <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2025/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2025#fn:2">published</a> by His Majesty’s Courts &amp; Tribunals Service (Q4 2024/25, January to March 2025), figures show a significant increase in the ongoing backlog of employment tribunal claims. There were 37,000 claims received by the employment tribunals in Q4 2024/25, with 11,000 being claims with a single claimant and 26,000 being claims with multiple claimants. Whilst the employment tribunals disposed of 15,000 claims, at the end of Q4 2024/25 the number of open claims reached 491,000, up from the 467,000 open claims previously <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024#:~:text=Employment%20Tribunal%20lead%20multiple%20cases,at%20the%20end%20of%20December.">reported</a> in Q3 2024/25.

The currently reported annual figures for 2024/25 show that receipts of new claims have consistently outpaced the number of claims being resolved, with the open caseload increasing year-on-year by 32% for single claims and by 9% for multiple claims. Although disposals of single claims did increase by 6%, the number of disposals of multiple claims fell sharply by 49%.

These numbers underline the scale of the backlog and it is anticipated that this trend will continue. The employment tribunals are likely to remain under continued strain, and with the potential impact of upcoming changes to legislation, this may serve to exacerbate the current backlog by increasing the number of claims being made, as the changes come into force.

For employers, this represents an increasing challenge in managing workplace disputes and claims, with the backlog meaning that ongoing employment tribunal claims could remain open for extended periods of time. It will therefore be crucial for employers to implement and maintain effective strategies to manage disputes and claims over a longer period of time particularly with the upcoming changes providing more scope and time for claimants to bring claims.