According to an update from the National User Group (NUG) regarding employment tribunals, some new claims may not be heard until 2020 – at the earliest. This is raising concern amongst employers that the system is losing pace.
The NUG held a meeting in September, the minutes of which stated that there had been an increase - compared to last year - of 165% in single claims. This figure repeats the recent figures from the Ministry of Justice, which advised that the number of outstanding single cases was 130% higher in the second quarter of 2018 than the same period in 2017.
Raoul Parekh, a Partner at G Q Littler, told People Management that employers should ensure – as a matter of urgency – that they have HR systems in place to stay out of the tribunal process. He said:
“If that’s not possible, one thing for employers to do is to gather and collect all notes and documents they can ahead of the tribunal hearing.”
He added that the longer the employers wait to gather the evidence, the more difficult it is to provide a defence to the case and can also increase the spending on legal advice.
During the NUG meeting, Judge Brian Doyle - President of the Employment Tribunals England and Wales - agreed that the lengthy tribunal times could be because of the reduced number of judges. He went on to say that, hopefully, the allocation of new judicial resources in 2019 would ease the problem. A recruitment campaign had been launched to recruit 54 salaried employment judges in an effort to meet the demands of the system.
However, some employment lawyers were not convinced that the appointment of the additional judges would solve the problem.
Employment law barrister at Old Square Chambers - Katherine Newton – tweeted that a colleague had a listing at Croydon Employment Tribunal for 2021 and also said that Manchester Employment Tribunal was listing 10 day hearings in 2021. She went on to remark:
“Are the 54 Employment Judges being appointed nationally in the New Year really going to make a noticeable improvement to these sorts of waiting times?”
Senior Associate at Winckworth Sherwood - Tim Goodwin - said:
“The employment tribunal system has been defunded when the fee regime collapsed. All elements of civil law have faced cuts and the government cut back on judges.”
Paul Holcroft - Associate Director at Croner - said he imagined that more employers would turn to settlements to “get rid of the issue at the earliest opportunity”.
He added:
“While this may be good practice to get rid of the claim, it calls into question whether these delays are prohibiting access to justice, as neither party may have the opportunity to put forward their case where the matter is resolved through a settlement, for reasons of time.”
