The number of single claims brought to employment tribunals increased by 25 per cent in the final quarter of 2020, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Justice.
Recent figures have also shown that there has been an 82 per cent rise in multiple cases, with 29,000 claims being reviewed between October and December 2020.
The Ministry of Justice has stated that the increase in cases being brought to tribunal is due to a significant volume of claims being brought against single employers, which increased from 630 in Q4 2019 to 1,000 in the same period in 2020.
The data also shows that there were 27 claims per multiple case last year, which is more than double the rate in 2019 (12 per multiple case).
There has been an increase in the number of cases brought to employment tribunals in the last 12 months due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with an increase in unemployment and a change in working conditions being brought on by the pandemic.
The Ministry of Justice is also predicting an increase in cases when the furlough scheme concludes in September 2020, with employers making redundancy considerations over the next few months.
Employment tribunals saw 14,000 claims conclude between October and December 2020, largely owing to a 66 per cent increase in multiple claim disposals, while working time claims replaced unfair dismissal as the most common claim during the period.
Samantha Randall, an Employment Law expert at Palmers, said: “The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has meant that more employers may have had to make tough decisions regarding employment and salaries, which could have resulted in disagreements with their employees.
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