Tribunal service publish 2008/9 employment
tribunal figures

The
Tribunals Service has eventually published the final version of the employment
tribunal statistics for 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009. Key figures show major
increases in claims for unfair dismissal (up 29%), breach of contract (up 31%)
and redundancy pay (up 48%).

The
2008/9 figures show an overall decrease in the number of claims and an increase
in the number of disposals. Key findings are as follows:

• Employment
  Tribunals accepted 151,000 claims in 2008/9, a decrease of 20% on the 2007/8
  figure of 189,300.
• When
  the jurisdictional mix of the claims is considered (more than one jurisdiction
  in a single claim), there were 266,500 accepted jurisdictional cases, down by
  10% on the 2007/8 figure of 297,000.
• There
  were rises in cases for unfair dismissal (up 29%); breach of contract (up 31%);
  redundancy pay (up 48%) and redundancy.
• The
  Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) received 1,794 appeals compared to 1,841 in
  2007/8.
• The
  median award for unfair dismissal was £4,269.
• The
  median awards in discrimination claims were: (i) £5,172 for race; (ii) £7,000
  for sex; (iii) £7,226 for disability; (iv) £4,291 for religion; (v) £15,351 for
  sexual orientation; and (vi)£3,000 for age.
• The
  median award for costs was £1,000, with the maximum being £25,000.