Employment Tribunal Waiting Times
On Wednesday 12th January, Hansard published a response to a written question advising the average time from receipt of the ET1 to a first hearing is 335 days for single claims or 388 days for multiple claims. The hearing could be a preliminary hearing, case management hearing or a final hearing.
These figures are from data gathered between 1st April 2020 and 31st March 2021. However, this data is not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics so it may slightly differ in reality.
Single claims are when a sole employee or worker brings a claim and multiple claims are when two or more people bring proceedings arising out of the same facts against a common employer.
Daniel Kindell, Head of Employment and Partner in the Employment Department, said of the stats:
“The pandemic caused chaos across the Employment Tribunal system and unprecedented delays to cases. The average figures from issuing a claim to a first hearing are unsurprising and show just how serious those delays were. It has been a struggle at times to say the least.
However, I’m pleased to say that things seem to be improving, with many Tribunals becoming more responsive, more efficient and generally slicker. Remote video hearings, so infrequently used pre-pandemic and only in limited circumstances, are actually proving an extremely useful and effective way of having cases dealt with, particularly for a firm that acts nationally like us.”
