The annual statistics for the employment tribunals and employment appeal tribunal (EAT) have been published by the Ministry of Justice. We look at some of the headline figures.
The figures, for the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012, show that the number of claims received by the tribunal overall are down. Multiple claims (brought by two or more individuals) are down by 19% and single claims are down by 2%.
The number of unfair dismissal claims for the period was 46,300, down from 47,900 in the previous year and a drop of around 20% from the 2009-10 figure of 57,400. Claims for failure to collectively inform and consult (for both collective redundancy and TUPE) have increased, but there have been substantial decreases in the number of sex and age discrimination claims.
Some of the most interesting statistics are in relation to the awards of compensation made by the employment tribunals in successful claims. The mean average award in successful claims of unfair dismissal has increased from £8,924 to £9,133, but the median award has remained virtually unchanged at £4,591 compared to £4,560 last year.
The highest award of compensation was in a claim of race discrimination (compensation of £4,445,023), which clearly has a big impact on the average figure for such claims although the median figure for successful claims of race discrimination is £5,256. The tendency for the media to highlight the very large awards of compensation ignores the fact that in practice, the vast majority of successful claims are for much lower figures.
In relation to awards of costs, potential claimants should be aware that 1,295 respondents had a costs award made in their favour, compared with just 116 of claimants.
Further details of the annual statistics are available here
