The number of claims in the Employment Tribunal nearly doubled towards the end of 2020 as the effects of the pandemic took hold, statistics published by the Ministry of Justice have highlighted. 29,000 claims were made by more than one person based on the same set of facts in the final three months of last year, which is 82% up on the same period in 2019.

The multiple claims received from October to December 2020 related to 1,000 multiple claim cases, which is up from 630 multiple cases in the same period the previous year.

Interestingly, one of the greatest rises in numbers was in age discrimination claims, which jumped from 208 in September to 1,166 in October. Discrimination does not just apply to so-called ‘old’ age; it can affect all age groups. Said Laura Farnsworth, Partner at London firm Lewis Silkin:

“This may suggest two scenarios – either employers are targeting older workers when selecting for redundancy or, more likely, that claims are coming from younger workers who appear to have been most affected by COVID-related redundancies or furlough,”

She added that the increase in multiple cases may be accounted for by the fact that many employers have been making changes to workers’ terms and conditions and conducting large-scale redundancy exercises.

Chris Millward, Head of Claims at insurer ARAG, is of the opinion that we are not going to see the situation improving any time soon. He said:

“The end to the furlough scheme is likely to bring another spike in redundancies and yet more Tribunal claims."

The government has increased the number of judges working on employment claims and hugely increased the number of hearings held remotely in a bid to clear the backlog.

The Ministry of Justice said:

“The return of face-to-face hearings, as well as the substantive use of remote hearings in courts, has increased ET disposals back to pre-COVID-19 levels. We expect to see a slowdown in receipts with the announcement to continue the furlough scheme until autumn 2021.”