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24 July 2009
Issue: 7379 / Categories: Legal News , Tribunals , Immigration & asylum , Employment
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Tribunals service pulls through in tough year

Tribunals dealt with almost 20,000 claims more than in 2007–08 despite an increased workload, according to the Tribunals Service Annual Report and Accounts published last week.

There were 40% more appeals claims in asylum and immigration, employment, and social security and child support, which together account for more than 90% of all appeals claims.

This meant the Tribunals Service narrowly missed two of its performance targets. However, the service reduced its net operating costs overall by £9m, a reduction of three per cent.

Kevin Sadler, chief executive of the service, said: “We received around 40% more claims in our main jurisdictions than we were expecting or resourced to cope with, with the biggest increases coming in the latter half of the year. “Yet we still managed to clear more appeals than we had the previous year, so we performed better, in tougher conditions.”

Caseflow, an electronic case management system for the Tribunal Service and Acas, will be installed in all employment tribunal offices by next summer.

The system, which has

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