Week-long employment tribunals in parts of London are being listed for as far away as 2026, as a shortage of judges continues to affect waiting times. 

Figures revealed as part of the minutes of the employment tribunals user group meeting for April reveal that for hearings of six to 10 days in the London South region, cases are experiencing the longest delays.

London East, North West (Liverpool), Midlands East and the South East all have cases listed for the second half of 2025. Only in Wales (South), London Central, the North East and the South West are hearing dates available for this year.

In some regions, hearings of between three and five days are having to wait until the second half of 2025. 

Employment tribunal

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The meeting heard that these time estimates were in broad terms and based on an informal survey of regional employment judges, as HM Courts & Tribunals Service remains unable to produce official, audited data on timeliness.

Judge Barry Clarke, president of employment tribunals for England and Wales, told the meeting that 60% of the backlog of single claims are based in London and the South East regions but these areas contain only 30-40% of judges. While 19 judges had recently been recruited nationwide, the business case had been made for 50, and this was the fourth successive drive in which HMCTS had struggled to bring in the numbers needed in London and the South East.

‘There is no shortage of those who wish to become salaried judges in other parts of the country,’ recorded the minutes. ‘The likeliest explanation for the shortfall is the cost of living in London and the South East.’

A further 50 judges fee paid judges were expected to be brought on board this year, but the next recruitment drive will not be for another three years after that. As of April 2024, there were eight regional employment judges (and three acting regional judges), 165 salaried judges, 350 fee-paid judges and 780 non-legal members.

The most recent quarterly tribunal statistics, covering the period from October to December 2023, show that single employment cases increased by 7%, while disposals were down by 11% compared to the same period a year before.

In the quarter, the tribunal received 8,100 single claim receipts and disposed of 7,100. The backlog by the end of December was 33,000 claims.

For multiple cases, there were 16,000 new receipts, 23,000 disposals and an open caseload of 431,000.

 

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