The Employment Tribunal Crisis

The Employment Tribunal Crisis: Why Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied

Let me paint you a picture of the UK employment tribunal system in 2026: cases being listed for hearings three years after they're filed, workers waiting 18-24 months for their day in tribunal, and a backlog that keeps growing despite everyone acknowledging the crisis. If you're thinking about bringing an employment tribunal claim, you need to understand just how broken the system is – and what it means for your case.

I'm going to be blunt here because sugar-coating this crisis doesn't help anyone: the employment tribunal system is on its knees, and it's getting worse, not better.

The Numbers Are Staggering

As of early 2026, there are over 52,000 outstanding single claims in the employment tribunal system, with a total open caseload exceeding 491,000 cases when you include multiple claims. That's an 11% increase from 2023, and the trajectory is upward.

In some regions – particularly London South, Watford, and Croydon – complex hearings requiring six to ten days are being scheduled for early 2026 and beyond. Even shorter hearings of three to five days are facing waits of 12-18 months in many regions.

Let's be clear about what this means in human terms: if you're dismissed unfairly today and file a tribunal claim, you might not see the inside of a hearing room until 2028. That's potentially three years of financial uncertainty, stress, and your life being on hold.

Why Is This Happening?

The tribunal crisis isn't a mystery – it's a perfect storm of predictable factors that successive governments have failed to address.

The Judge Shortage

Here's the core problem: 60% of the backlog is concentrated in London and the South East, but these regions only have 30-40% of the judges. The regional imbalance is stark.

HMCTS (Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunals Service) made a business case for recruiting 50 new judges. They managed to recruit 19. This is the fourth consecutive recruitment drive that's failed to hit targets in London and the South East.

The reason? According to Judge Barry Clarke, President of Employment Tribunals for England and Wales, it's straightforward: "There is no shortage of those who wish to become salaried judges in other parts of the country. The likeliest explanation for the shortfall is the cost of living in London and the South East."

Turns out you can't convince qualified employment lawyers to become judges if the judicial salary doesn't cover London rent. Who knew?

The 2017 Fees Removal

In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that employment tribunal fees (which had been introduced in 2013) were unlawful because they prevented access to justice. Good for workers, terrible for tribunal capacity.

When fees were in place, many workers who'd been wronged simply couldn't afford to bring claims. When the fees were scrapped, claims surged. The tribunal system was unprepared for this influx and has never caught up.

Underfunding and Austerity

Let's not mince words: the tribunal system has been starved of resources for over a decade. Staff cuts, budget constraints, and lack of investment in infrastructure have created a system that can't cope with normal caseloads, never mind an increasing volume of claims.

The Employment Rights Act Effect

Here's the kicker: it's about to get worse. The Employment Rights Act 2025 makes unfair dismissal a "day one" right from October 2026. Currently, you need two years' service to claim unfair dismissal (except for automatically unfair reasons). When that restriction lifts, the number of claims is projected to increase by around 17%.

The tribunal system is already drowning. Now we're about to dump more water in.

Extended Time Limits

From October 2026, the time limit for most tribunal claims will extend from three months to six months. Combined with the doubled ACAS early conciliation period (now 12 weeks instead of six), employees could have as long as 10 months to bring a claim.

This is good for workers who need time to process what happened and gather evidence. It's terrible for an already overwhelmed tribunal system that will see claims filed months later than they currently are.

What This Means for Workers

If you're considering a tribunal claim, you need to factor in these delays when making your decision.

Financial Strain

Most tribunal claims involve lost wages. If you're waiting 18-24 months for a hearing, that's potentially two years without income or working in a lower-paid role while your claim progresses. Can you sustain that financially?

Even if you win, the financial award doesn't make up for years of stress and uncertainty. And tribunals can't award interest on awards from the date of dismissal – only from the date of calculation, which further reduces the real value of any compensation.

Psychological Impact

The stress of an ongoing tribunal claim is substantial. Your life is on hold. You can't fully move on from what happened. Witnesses who could support your case might leave their jobs or simply forget crucial details by the time the hearing comes around.

I've seen claimants deteriorate mentally and physically over the months and years waiting for their hearing. The psychological toll of prolonged uncertainty is real and often underestimated.

Evidence Degradation

The longer the gap between the events and the hearing, the more evidence degrades. Memories fade. Witnesses become unavailable. Documents get lost. Employers reorganize and the managers who dismissed you might have moved on.

This affects both sides, but it particularly impacts workers who often have fewer resources to preserve evidence than employers with dedicated HR departments and legal teams.

Employer Advantage

Extended delays favor employers. They have deeper pockets, in-house legal teams, and can afford to wait out the process. Many employers use the delay strategically, making low settlement offers in the knowledge that the worker can't afford to wait years for justice.

I'm not saying all employers do this cynically, but the structural incentive is clear: if you're the respondent and time is on your side, why settle for a fair amount when you can lowball and bet on the claimant's desperation?

The ACAS Early Conciliation Bottleneck

Before you can even file a tribunal claim, you must go through ACAS early conciliation. This was designed to encourage settlement without litigation. In practice, it's become another choke point.

ACAS is overwhelmed. Conciliators aren't being assigned until late in the conciliation period, eliminating any meaningful opportunity to conciliate. Some claimants report getting their conciliation certificate with zero contact from ACAS.

This means the supposed filter is just adding time to an already glacial process without actually resolving many disputes.

Here's a particularly nasty catch: employers don't know early conciliation has been initiated until ACAS contacts them or the certificate is issued. This eliminates any opportunity for the employer to assess risk, preserve evidence, or explore settlement before a formal claim lands.

What Can You Do?

If you're facing a workplace dispute, here's my practical advice given the current state of the tribunal system:

Document Everything Immediately

Don't wait until you're at tribunal to think about evidence. Start documenting now. Save emails, keep notes of conversations, screenshot messages, save policies and contracts. The longer the delay to hearing, the more crucial contemporaneous evidence becomes.

Consider Alternatives to Tribunal

I hate saying this as someone who believes in workers' rights, but sometimes the cost-benefit of a tribunal claim doesn't work. Settlement negotiations, grievance procedures, or even walking away with a reference might be better outcomes than years of litigation hell.

This doesn't mean employers should get away with wrongdoing, but you need to make decisions based on the system as it is, not as it should be.

Get Early Advice

The earlier you get specialist advice, the better positioned you are to make informed decisions. Whether from a union, solicitor, or advocates like us at Zhan Associates, early intervention can shape the outcome.

Use the Delay to Your Advantage

If you do proceed with a tribunal claim, use the long lead time strategically. Build your case methodically. Prepare witness statements while memories are fresh. Gather every piece of documentary evidence you can find.

Be Realistic About Settlement

If the employer makes a reasonable settlement offer, evaluate it seriously. "Reasonable" doesn't mean generous – it means realistic given the strength of your case, the likely award if you win, and the years you'd spend fighting.

The tribunal system's delays have perversely created pressure on claimants to settle for less than they deserve. Recognize this dynamic and make informed choices about when to hold firm and when to accept an imperfect outcome.

The Bigger Picture

The tribunal crisis isn't just inconvenient – it undermines the entire system of employment rights enforcement. Rights without effective enforcement mechanisms are just aspirational guidelines.

Employers who know they can drag cases out for years with minimal consequence are emboldened to push legal boundaries. Workers who know that justice takes years and immense personal cost are discouraged from asserting their rights.

This creates a two-tier system: well-resourced workers with strong cases and financial stability can pursue justice; everyone else either settles for peanuts or gives up entirely.

Will It Get Better?

The government acknowledges the crisis. The Employment Rights Act includes provisions to strengthen the tribunal system. But acknowledging a problem and funding the solution are different things.

More judges are needed. More tribunal venues. Better IT systems. Increased administrative support. All of this requires money that, as of early 2026, doesn't seem to be forthcoming in the amounts needed to clear the backlog and handle increasing caseload.

I'm not optimistic about rapid improvement. The best-case scenario is probably stabilization – stopping the backlog from getting worse. Actual improvement would require investment on a scale I simply don't see happening.

My Take

The employment tribunal system is a cornerstone of workplace justice in the UK. It's meant to be accessible, affordable, and timely. Right now, it's none of those things.

Workers deserve better. They deserve a system where raising a grievance doesn't mean putting your life on hold for three years. Where justice delayed isn't justice denied.

Until the system improves – and I'm not holding my breath – workers need to navigate it with clear eyes. Understand the delays. Plan for the worst. Make strategic decisions based on the broken system as it exists, not the functional system we wish we had.

And maybe, just maybe, if enough people recognise how broken the system is, there'll be political will to actually fix it. But I'm not counting on it.

About this article: This blog reflects the views of Zhan Associates as workplace advocates. We are not solicitors and this is not legal advice. For specific legal guidance on whether to pursue a tribunal claim, consult a qualified employment solicitor. If you're facing a disciplinary and need immediate representation before deciding whether to proceed to tribunal, contact us.