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HMCTS official statistics
Employment tribunal caseload trends
Aggregate receipts, disposals and open caseload across HMCTS reporting periods.
Tribunal clearance rate trend
Disposals as a share of receipts — whether the backlog is growing or shrinking.
Yerty tribunal findings
How often does the unfair dismissal cap actually apply?
The statutory cap bites in only ~5–7% of unfair-dismissal compensatory awards (445 of 6,158) — for the typical claim it is irrelevant, constraining only the high-earner tail.
How often do discrimination claims succeed at an employment tribunal?
Success rates range from 56.8% for pregnancy and maternity down to 11.3% for religion or belief — pregnancy and maternity is the only characteristic where most decided claims succeed.
Employment tribunal awards: typical vs maximum payouts
The median unfair dismissal award was £6,746 in 2023/24, but maximums reach £995,128. The median, not the headline figure, is the realistic reference point.
How often are employment tribunal claimants represented?
Employers are represented in 68.8% of cases, claimants in just 33.4% — and the most common matchup is a represented employer facing an unrepresented claimant (43.3%).
Which UK sectors face the most employment tribunal claims?
The public sector (15.1%), healthcare (11.5%) and retail (9.7%) lead by employer sector — the top five sectors make up roughly half of all identifiable judgments.
What happens to a tribunal award after you win?
Among ~30,040 awarding cases the most common adjustments are the ACAS uplift (9.8%, +17%), Polkey reductions (6.3%, −49%) and contributory fault (5.9%, −40%) — the headline award is rarely the final figure.
How often are costs ordered at tribunal — and who pays?
Costs are rare — ordered in at least 2.4% of cases. When they land, claimants pay nearly twice as often as employers, and at seven times the median (£7,142 vs £1,000).
How often are employment tribunal decisions reconsidered?
A reconsideration is recorded in about 4.2% of published cases — roughly 1 in 24. Most tribunal decisions are final.
When your employer goes insolvent, who pays?
The state backstops statutory payments via the National Insurance Fund — making the Secretary of State one of the UK's most-named tribunal respondents (~1 in 70 cases), with a median award of £5,010.
Quarterly analysis
Employment tribunal open caseload (backlog)
Open single-claim caseload by quarter — MoJ Q4 2025/26 provisional.
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