Tribunal statistics: encouraging times?

The annual employment tribunal statistics for 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 have recently been published by the Ministry of Justice and make interesting reading.

The number of claims received by employment tribunals, (186,300 for 2011/12) has fallen 15 per cent on the previous year, which is clearly good news for employers. However this is probably because the economic climate which resulted in redundancies and organisational change peaked in the previous year and we are now returning to the usual level of claims.

Yet with the increase in the qualifying unfair dismissal limit for new starters on or after 6th April 2012, perhaps this downward trend may continue?

The report also revealed that of the total 321,800 jurisdictional complaints (with an avergage of 1.73 jurisdictional claims per case):-

• 31% were for unfair dismissal, breach of contract and redundancy
• 29% related to the Working Time regulations
• 16% were for unauthorised deductions

Importantly there seems to be a downward trend in most jurisdictions including sex discrimination, equal pay, unfair dismissal and Working Time regulations.

There was a very slight increase in claims for disability discrimination and this may continue in the future as there continues to be an increase in the number of employees suffering from mental illnesses.

Summary

The statistics are certainly encouraging for employers, although it is evident that there is a direct correlation between the economic climate and employment claims. With the Eurozone crisis on our doorstep and the UK officially entering a double dip recession in April, it is hard to forecast whether this downward trend will continue. Employers are therefore encouraged to take proactive HR/employment advice to protect themselves from a claim Napthens' HR3 service offers businesses all round protection and commercially robust advice from specialist employment lawyers.