Recent Employment Tribunal statistics covering January to March 2026 highlight the continued pressure on a system already facing significant capacity constraints.

The Employment Tribunal received approximately 50,000 new claims in this period from individual claimants, nearly twice as many as the number of claims which were disposed of in that same period. The single-claim open caseload is up 55% compared with the same period in 2024/25.

Trends include:

• TUPE claims seeing the fastest growth, with a 227% year-on-year increase, followed by National Minimum Wage claims at 122% and whistleblowing up 112%;

• Disability discrimination claims are up 79% year-on-year, making up approximately 16% of all claims;

• Unfair dismissal makes up 23% of all claims, with 51% of new claims filed including an unfair dismissal allegation; and

• Unlawful deduction from wages claim makes up 13% of those claims.

The Employment Tribunal also received approximately 44,000 claims brought as part of group actions during this period. Less than half that number were disposed of in that same period. By the end of March 2026, around 467,000 multiple/group claims remained outstanding, highlighting the significant volume of claims still awaiting determination.

It is clear that the number of new Employment Tribunal claims continue to outpace the number of cases being resolved, this is before the impact of changes to the time limits for bringing claims, extending most to 6 months from 3 and before the approximate 6.3 million additional employees gain unfair dismissal rights on 1 January 2027.

The ongoing imbalance between claim volumes and those being resolved continues to place pressure on Tribunal resources, with no immediate sign of the backlog reducing. The statistics reinforce concerns that parties are likely to experience longer waiting times before claims are listed for final hearing, whilst perhaps providing a greater window of opportunity to resolve claims before reaching that point.

If you require any further information or would like to discuss the implications of these developments, please do not hesitate to contact the CG Employment team.