Employment tribunal fees not affecting number of claims

Interim figures for England and Wales released by the Ministry of Justice suggest that the introduction of employment tribunal fees is not having a significant impact on the number of claims.

There was a dramatic increase in the number of claims submitted last June (25,000) and last July (17,000) compared to the average of 13,000 a month, which suggests that claimants were rushing to submit their claims before the fees deadline of 29 July 2013.There was then a drop in August to 7,000 claims, as many claimants appear to have submitted their claims earlier than they might otherwise have done. However, there was a total of 40,000 claims submitted in the period from July to September, which the Ministry of Justice says is in line with historical quarterly trends.