Will the Employment Rights Act 2025 Worsen the Backlog?

This article applies to England, Wales and Scotland.

In brief: The government forecasts that the Employment Rights Act 2025 will add around 6,900 tribunal cases a year. In 2025/26, before any of the Act took effect, single claim receipts rose 39% while disposals fell 12%, and the single claim open caseload rose 55% to 64,000.

Last updated: July 2026

By Yerty | Analysis of published Employment Tribunal decisions and official MoJ/HMCTS statistics.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is widely expected to increase the number of employment tribunal claims. The tribunal backlog is also growing on its own. Both things are true, and the published figures allow the two to be measured against each other.

This guide sets out what the government forecasts the Act will add, what the tribunal system did in the year to March 2026, and what is currently known about the dates. It uses Ministry of Justice quarterly statistics published on 11 June 2026 and the government's own impact assessments.

Important: This guide provides information about UK employment law. Yerty is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Every situation is different. Data describes past cases and system-wide trends, and cannot predict the outcome or timing of any individual claim.

What the Act Is Forecast to Add

The government's published analysis projects that the Act will increase the volume of cases moving through ACAS and the employment tribunal by around 17%. In its estimate, that means roughly 21,000 additional early conciliation notifications, 6,900 more tribunal cases, and 1,300 further cases requiring judicial time such as a preliminary or full hearing. The government describes these figures as illustrative and subject to change.

Three provisions carry most of the projected effect.

The unfair dismissal qualifying period is the largest. From 1 January 2027 it falls from two years to six months, which the impact assessment describes as representing the largest expected impact on the existing system. Around 6.3 million more employees come into scope. The assessment estimates roughly 9,000 additional approaches to ACAS, of which about 3,000 progress to a tribunal claim and around 570 require judicial time.

The Act does not introduce day-one unfair dismissal rights. Earlier drafts pointed that way and much commentary still describes it that way, but the Act as passed sets a six-month qualifying period.

Tribunal time limits rise from three months to six months on 1 October 2026. The impact assessment estimates this will produce around a 5% increase in case numbers.

The statutory cap on unfair dismissal compensation is removed on 1 January 2027. The cap currently stands at £123,543, or 52 weeks' gross pay, whichever is lower, for dismissals with an effective date on or after 6 April 2026. Removing it changes the value of claims rather than their number, though it may affect how many people consider a claim worth bringing.

What the Tribunal System Did in 2025/26

The Ministry of Justice published figures for the year to March 2026 on 11 June 2026. None of the Act's tribunal-facing provisions were in force during that period.

For single claims, which are claims brought by one person rather than as part of a group:

Working back from the published percentages, single claim receipts rose by roughly 14,000 over the year and the single claim open caseload by roughly 23,000. Those are approximations: the MoJ rounds figures above 10,000 to the nearest thousand, so the underlying movements are close to but not exactly these numbers.

The Two Sets of Figures Compared

Forecast figures: Employment Rights Bill economic analysis. Actual figures: derived from MoJ Tribunal Statistics Quarterly, January to March 2026, published 11 June 2026.

The Act's projected annual effect is smaller than the movement recorded in the year to March 2026. It is an addition to an existing trend rather than the origin of it.

Receipts and Disposals

The gap between claims arriving and claims being concluded is the mechanism behind the caseload figures.

In 2025/26 the tribunal received 50,000 single claims and disposed of 26,000. In the January to March 2026 quarter it received 22,000 claims of all types and disposed of 11,000. Disposals fell 12% over the year while receipts rose 39%.

A system concluding roughly half of what arrives accumulates open cases regardless of whether the law changes. The Act's projected additions arrive on top of that gap rather than creating it.

Waiting times reflect the same position. The last published mean time to clearance for single claims was 31 weeks, up from 19 weeks a year earlier. Our guide to employment tribunal waiting times and the current backlog breaks these figures down by claim type.

Where the Dates Currently Stand

Two statutory instruments extending tribunal time limits have been approved by both Houses of Parliament and come into force on 1 October 2026:

• The Employment Tribunal (Extension of Time Limits) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026, which apply across England, Wales and Scotland
• The Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) (Amendment) Order 2026, which covers breach of contract and wrongful dismissal claims in England and Wales

Commencement regulations for section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Act itself, which carry the extension for most statutory claims, had not been published as at July 2026. The expectation is that they will take effect on the same date.

The transitional provisions are the part that affects individual claims. The six-month limit applies where the act or failure complained of falls on or after 1 October 2026. Where a claim concerns a series of acts, such as a series of unlawful deductions from wages, the extended limit applies if the last act in the series falls on or after that date. Claims arising wholly before 1 October 2026 remain subject to the three-month limit, even where the deadline itself falls afterwards.

In practice that means someone dismissed in September 2026 is still working to three months less one day, despite their deadline landing after October.

Existing rules on extending time limits are unchanged, as is the effect of ACAS early conciliation in pausing the clock. Since 1 December 2025 the early conciliation period can run up to 12 weeks, up from six.

What This Means for a Claim

Current law applies until each provision takes effect. That means two years' service for ordinary unfair dismissal, three months less one day for most claims arising before 1 October 2026, and the existing compensation cap.

Anyone with six months' continuous service on 1 January 2027 comes into scope for unfair dismissal protection then. Service already accrued counts, so this includes anyone employed from around the end of June 2026 onwards, not only those hired after that date.

On timing, the published trend points towards longer rather than shorter waits over the next two years. Long waits also affect evidence: memories fade, witnesses move on and employers restructure, and contemporaneous records tend to carry more weight than recollection in decided cases.

How This Compares to the Official Picture

A note on what these numbers do and do not cover.

The MoJ figures count claims and cases moving through the system, not people. One person can bring several jurisdictional complaints in a single claim, which is why claim counts and complaint counts differ across tables. Multiple claims, brought by groups against the same employer, are volatile: a single large group action can move the totals sharply in one quarter, which is why the 467,000 open multiple claims sit apart from the 64,000 single claims in the table above.

The MoJ also flags that following the amalgamation of its two case management systems, the open caseload may still include an approximate 3% overcount for singles and lead multiples, with a data quality review in progress. The caseload figures are close rather than exact.

The impact assessment figures are forecasts, published before the Act received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and revised since. They rest on assumptions about how many people will bring claims they would not otherwise have brought, and those assumptions may prove conservative or generous. They are projections rather than measurements.

For the wider picture on claim volumes and outcomes, see our analysis of employment tribunal statistics, or start with how employment tribunal claims work if you are at the beginning of the process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the Employment Rights Act 2025 make tribunal waiting times longer?

It is forecast to add around 6,900 tribunal cases a year. That sits alongside an existing gap between receipts and disposals, with 50,000 single claims received against 26,000 disposed of in 2025/26.

When does the tribunal time limit change from three months to six months?

1 October 2026. Two statutory instruments have been approved by Parliament and come into force on that date. Commencement regulations for section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Act had not been published as at July 2026 and are expected to take effect on the same date.

Does the six-month time limit apply to my claim if my deadline falls after October 2026?

Only if the act complained of falls on or after 1 October 2026. Claims arising wholly before that date keep the three-month limit even where the deadline itself falls afterwards. For a series of acts, the last act must fall on or after 1 October 2026.

Does the Employment Rights Act 2025 give day-one unfair dismissal rights?

No. The Act reduces the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from two years to six months with effect from 1 January 2027. Earlier drafts proposed day-one rights and much commentary still describes it that way.

How many claims are currently waiting to be heard?

At the end of March 2026 there were 531,000 open employment tribunal claims. Of these, 64,000 were single claims brought by individuals and 467,000 were multiple claims brought by groups against the same employer.

How long is an employment tribunal claim taking?

The last published mean time to clearance for single claims was 31 weeks, up from 19 weeks a year earlier. Discrimination claims typically take longer than claims about wages or working time. Individual cases vary widely around these averages.

Will removing the compensation cap increase claim numbers?

The statutory cap on unfair dismissal compensation is due to be abolished from 1 January 2027. It currently stands at £123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay, whichever is lower. Removal changes what claims are worth rather than directly changing how many are brought.

Who gains unfair dismissal protection in January 2027?

Employees with at least six months' continuous service on 1 January 2027. Service already accrued counts, so anyone employed from around the end of June 2026 onwards would expect to qualify, rather than only those hired afterwards.

Sources

1. "Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2026", Ministry of Justice, 2026 — https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2026/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2026
2. "Employment Rights Bill: Economic Analysis", Department for Business and Trade, 2024 — https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0011/impactassessment.pdf
3. The Employment Tribunal (Extension of Time Limits) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2026/9780348282849
4. Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36) — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36
5. "Employment Rights Act 2025", ACAS — https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025