The Ministry
of Justice have recently released the quarterly employment tribunal statistics
for October to December 2013. The statistics show that there was a 79% drop
(when compared to the same period in 2012) in the number of applications
lodged. There was also a drop in the number of single claims from a monthly
average of 4,000 – 5,000 down to 1,700.
The
statistics show that there has been a 75% drop from the July to September
2013 quarter. However, it is worth noting that the July to September quarter
was slightly skewed by the rush to bring claims prior to employment tribunal
fees being introduced in July 2013.
The
introduction of employment tribunal fees has been cited as the main cause in
the reduction in the number of claims being brought. On the basis of the
most recent statistics, the total for 2013/14 may even be lower than the number
of applications lodged prior to the recession where, in 2005/06, the total
number of claims was 115,039.
Chris Bains