Employment tribunals on the brink of collapse

Labour Ministers recently caused somewhat of a legal stir by suggesting via a Guardian news report that it is considering the re-introduction of Employment Tribunal fees in order to help with budget pressure and the backlog within the tribunal system.  Unsurprisingly the Trade Unions were first to object (loudly) on the basis that – apparently £55 – would “price workers out of accessing justice”. However, within a couple of days, it was already a moot point as David Lammy, the new Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary on 9 October 2025 moved to quickly quash this proposal, stating unequivocally that the government would not be progressing the plan to charge fees to bring Employment Tribunal claims. 

This has, however and rightly, placed a long overdue spotlight on the Employment Tribunals (and indeed the English court system as a whole) since it is heading towards a catastrophic breakdown having been in crisis for years; not assisted by the 2017 fees repeal and then the covid-19 pandemic in 2020.  Unless something is done – and done quickly - it’s only going to get worse since the implications of the enhanced worker rights being implemented by the imminent Employment Rights Bill (ERB) which start next year - including “day one” rights and doubling the time limits to bring a case - will undoubtedly cause a further deluge of claims.

Labour’s short-lived proposal

Even ACAS is now creaking under the weight of the amount of Early Conciliation Applications.   The process gives disputing employers and employees up to 6 weeks (42 days) to attempt to settle. It’s difficult to do this, however, when ACAS, due to its own lack of resources, is now only able to allocate Conciliation Officers about 5 weeks after an application is made.  Clearly, that system – the precursor to lodging a claim, is now failing so badly yet more cases are ending up in the Employment Tribunal. 

Up until March 2025, there were 45,000 single open cases and it’s now taking at least 2, often up to 3 years for claims to reach a final hearing.  It is unclear how such excessive wait time can, in itself, be in any way considered appropriate “access to justice”.  Practitioners are already having to advise employee and employer clients alike of the delays, and that their ability to seek justice is therefore subordinate to this. Further, the longer a process is, generally the more costly it is. 

In any event, we have tried fees previously and know that they largely do not work to help ease the strain on the Employment Tribunal system. In 2013 when first introduced, fees to lodge a claim etc were up to £1600 and even at that level did not provide the envisaged additional monies for the pocket of the justice dept as they were so costly to administer. Indeed, £55 is such a far cry from the 2017 level of fees, it is difficult to see how the monetisation argument could have any viable basis for consideration now.