New data unveiled by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in recent days has revealed that the number of single Employment Tribunal claims received shot up significantly in the final quarter (Q4) of 2017.
According to the MoJ’s provisional Tribunal statistics for October to December 2017, the number of single Employment Tribunal claims received was up by 90 per cent during the period, while the backlog of single claims rose by 66 per cent.
During the same period, the number of single claims disposed of rose by 21 per cent, while the number of multiple Employment Tribunal claims received rose by an astonishing 467 per cent.
However, the latter figure is thought to be a statistical abnormality, as there were no 25,000-strong multiple cases presented during the same period the previous year, commentators have noted.
The publication of the new data comes just months after the Supreme Court ruled that Employment Tribunal fees were unlawful in July last year – a move which has been hailed as landmark news for disgruntled employees who had previously struggled to attain justice.
Since the Government unveiled its Employment Tribunal fees refund scheme in October 2017, as many as 4,800 refund applications have been received by the MoJ, the new statistics reveal.
So far, refund payments of up to £2.8 million have been made – but it has previously been estimated that the Government will need to repay around £32 million in total to claimants affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling.