According to recently released statistics from HM Courts and Tribunals Services there was an 8 per cent reduction in claims from April 2010 to March 2011, compared to the previous year, but the number of claims is still up 44 per cent on the 2008/09 figures.

This indicates that at least some reform of the Employment Tribunal system, which was the subject of the recent Government consultation ‘Resolving Workplace Disputes’ is still appropriate to deal with this heavy case load.
 

There was an increase of 32 per cent in the number of age discrimination claims. While this may be due to an increasing awareness of this relatively new right, the recent abolition of the default retirement age and attractive compensation awards – the median age discrimination award this year was £12,697 compared to awards of £5-6,000 for other discrimination claims – may well drive up the number of claims under this heading further.
 
Claims for failing to consult in accordance with collective redundancy obligations have again decreased. This year there were 7,400 claims, compared to 7,500 last year and 11,400 the year before.

Published by

Categorised in: ,