During the Tribunal Fees regime, it was not only Claims that reduced dramatically. The judges who had heard cases moved to other work and the resources available to the Tribunal system were significantly reduced. With the rise in Claims since fees were declared unlawful, those reductions are starting to have an impact, and according to observers things are likely to get worse before they get better.
At a recent meeting of the Employment Tribunal National User Group it was clear that the government was ill prepared and that the system is now under considerable strain. One example is the London South Tribunal where it has been reported that for two to three day discrimination cases (which would include sexual harassment claims) the parties will have to wait until late 2018 or early 2019 for the case to be heard. Whilst a recruitment campaign for judges is evidently underway the fear is that they won’t be in place quickly enough to avert a “systemic crisis”
