Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the day-one right to not be unfairly dismissed on employment tribunal caseloads.

Answered by Lord Leong - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Employment Rights Bill Impact Assessments were published in October 2024 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments. This analysis includes an assessment of the potential impact of the day-one right to not be unfairly dismissed on employment tribunal caseloads.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their funding plan to ensure that employment tribunals are adequately resources to manage the impact of the Employment Rights Bill.

Answered by Lord Leong - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

We recognise the Employment Tribunal system needs appropriate resourcing. The Lord Chancellor has a statutory duty to ensure sufficient funding for an efficient and effective Employment Tribunal. This is done via negotiation with the senior judiciary via the Concordat process.

For the financial year 2025/26, the Government has committed funding to support 33,900 sitting days for Employment Tribunals, which is at maximum judicial capacity. Funding for future years will be subject to future Concordat processes.

We are working to ensure that existing spend on Acas, tribunals, and state enforcement is used in an efficient way.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many additional judges and caseworks have been appointed to support employment tribunals in addressing the backlog of cases since July 2024.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

We are maintaining investment in the annual recruitment of about 1,000 judges and tribunal members across all jurisdictions. Annual recruitment requirements are determined by business need and judicial departures.

Since July 2024, 50 fee-paid Employment Judges (EJs) have been appointed, whilst 19 salaried EJs were appointed throughout 2024. Recruitment for up to 36 salaried EJs commenced in March 2025 and recruitment for 50 fee-paid EJs will commence in early 2026. As reported in the 2025 Judicial Diversity Statistics, there were 165 salaried and 143 fee-paid EJs in post in England and Wales as of 1 April 2025.

Since July 2024, we have also appointed an additional 6 caseworkers (legal officers) to support Employment Tribunals. There are currently just over 32 FTE legal officers in post.

Found: evidence session with the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office (Lord Sharpe of Epsom

Found: the way, in the best interests of the working people of this country.5 Shadow minister, Lord Sharpe of Epsom

Found: the way, in the best interests of the working people of this country.5 Shadow minister, Lord Sharpe of Epsom

Found: Lords Amendments 23, 48, 62, 106 to 120 were tabled by Lord Sharpe of Epsom and were opposed by the

Found: LORD BURNS BARONESS FINN LORD SHARPE OF EPSOM 147_ Leave out Clause 59 Member's explanatory statement

Found: LORD SHARPE OF EPSOM LORD HUNT OF WIRRAL 150AA★_ Clause 73, page 99, line 10, at beginning insert “

Found: LORD SHARPE OF EPSOM LORD HUNT OF WIRRAL 149ZA★_ Clause 71, page 98, leave out lines 25 and 26 and

Found: Secretary of State (joint with Ministry of Justice) Departed on 05 July 2024 The Rt Hon Lord Sharpe of Epsom

Found: Letter dated 06/08/2025 from Lord Leong to Lord Sharpe of Epsom regarding the debate on the Registrar

Found: Letter dated 22/07/2025 from Baroness Jones of Whitchurch to Lord Sharpe of Epsom regarding questions