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Employment tribunal claims: A storm that is already here
Employment tribunal claims: A storm that is already here
30 June 2026
Series
Blogs
30 June 2026
Author: Laurie Ollivent
The latest employment tribunal statistics make for stark reading. Claim volumes have surged across almost every category in the past year, and in many cases have doubled. This is also before the most significant reforms to the employment law landscape in a decade have taken effect. For employers, the message is clear: the litigation environment is changing, and it is changing fast.
The scale of increase is difficult to overstate. Across virtually every category of employment tribunal claim, volumes have risen sharply compared with the prior year. Some of the most notable increases include:
| Claim Type | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
| Unfair dismissal | 10,686 | 20,899 |
| Disability discrimination | 6,225 | 13,211 |
| Whistleblowing / public interest disclosures | 2,928 | 6,842 |
| Sex discrimination | 2,653 | 4,901 |
| Race discrimination | 3,001 | 5,505 |
| Age discrimination | 1,402 | 2,423 |
| Religion or belief discrimination | 752 | 1,419 |
Source: Employment Tribunal statistics, published June 2026
The unfair dismissal figures alone are striking: a near-doubling from around 10,700 to almost 21,000 claims in a single year. That increase is also before the government’s reforms to the unfair dismissal regime take effect in January 2027, when the qualifying period is reduced from two years to six months, resulting in an estimated six million additional employees within scope to claim, and the compensation cap is removed. When those changes come into force, a further significant uplift in unfair dismissal claims seems almost inevitable.
Several factors are likely at play. There is a widely observed trend of growing awareness among workers of their employment rights and a greater willingness to pursue claims - a cultural shift that has been building for some years. The significant growth in ‘complex’ claims such as discrimination and whistleblowing further suggests this is not simply a volume story: workers are increasingly bringing more sophisticated claims, often spanning multiple protected characteristics or overlapping legal areas.
The role of AI is also increasingly being discussed. Employment tribunals have noted a sharp rise in the volume of documentation accompanying claims - a trend commented on directly in Presidential Guidance issued jointly by the Presidents of the Employment Tribunals for England & Wales and Scotland on 22 June 2026. The guidance also flags a dramatic increase in interim relief applications (those made by claimants seeking to preserve their employment status or pay pending the full hearing of the claim): previously running at around 20 per year, to most employment tribunals now receiving a similar number each month. The guidance links both trends, at least in part, to the use of AI tools in preparing and pursuing claims. Whether AI is genuinely making litigation more accessible to workers, or simply generating more voluminous and complex filings, remains to be seen, but either way, the practical implications for employers and the tribunal system are significant.
The tribunal system is already under considerable pressure. It is chronically under-resourced and overstretched, with a substantial backlog of cases and some claims taking more than two years to be listed for hearing. The surge in claim volumes will only compound these challenges. This matters for employers not just because delayed justice is frustrating and costly, but because prolonged uncertainty around live tribunal proceedings carries its own operational and reputational risks.
The pressure on the system is set to increase further with a number of recent and upcoming legislative changes, including the extension of Acas early conciliation periods, and the extension of time limits to bring employment tribunal claims from three to six months, due to come into force in October 2026. Combined with the unfair dismissal reforms in January 2027, the cumulative effect on claim volumes could be substantial.
For large employers, the key takeaways are practical. The volume and complexity of claims being brought is rising sharply, and the reforms on the horizon will accelerate this trend. Employers may need to recalibrate their approach to terminations and performance management well before January 2027 to ensure that performance and conduct issues are addressed in a timely and compliant manner and that line managers are educated on how best to do so under the revised legislation. Equally, the growth in discrimination and whistleblowing claims points to a need for robust investigation and escalation processes, and a culture that takes concerns seriously at the outset.
On interim relief, the dramatic increase in applications is particularly notable for employers in sectors where whistleblowing is more prevalent. Interim relief applications are heard at pace (typically within seven days), and an order for reinstatement or continued employment pending a final hearing can be both disruptive and difficult to unwind. Understanding this risk and ensuring that dismissal decisions in potentially protected disclosure situations are carefully considered has never been more important.
Taken together, this data paints a rather bleak picture. Claim volumes are rising steeply, the tribunal system is overstretched, and a wave of further reform is on the way. There is growing academic and industry consensus that the employment tribunal system needs more than incremental fixes and calls for a more fundamental overhaul are getting louder, but whether policymakers will respond with the resource and structural reform the system needs remains to be seen.
In the meantime, employers would be well advised to treat this data as a prompt to review their employment practices, people management processes, and dispute resolution strategies, and to plan proactively for the further changes ahead.
If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this blog post, please contact your usual Linklaters employment contact.
i Department for Business & Trade, Unfair dismissal factsheet