A lack of full-time judges has forced employment tribunals to rush in part-time judges to try to clear a growing backlog of cases.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show the payroll for part-time judges at employment tribunals rose 71% from £3.9m in 2016–17 to £6.6m in 2017–18. Meanwhile, the backlog of outstanding cases increased from 16,800 in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 25,600 in the same quarter in 2018.
One reason for the increase in cases is the abolition of tribunal fees in July 2017, after the Supreme Court ruled them unlawful.
According to recent research conducted by employment law firm GQ|Littler, average waiting times between the tribunal receiving a claim and hearing it was 207 days in 2017–18. The MoJ is currently seeking to recruit more than 50 full-time employment judges, to add to its roster of about 80 full-time and 1,180 part-time judges.
Raoul Parekh, partner at GQ|Littler, said hiring more part-time judges ‘will not help reduce the backlog in complex cases, such as discrimination’.
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