Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions (a) she and (b) Ministers in her Department have had with the CEO of HM Courts & Tribunals Service on the Employment Tribunals Service since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Ministers regularly meet the CEO of HM Courts & Tribunals Service to discuss a wide range of matters relating to the operation of court and tribunal services, including the Employment Tribunals. I also have regular meetings with other senior officials in the Ministry of Justice on the operation of the Employment Tribunals.
These discussions are part of ongoing engagement to ensure the efficient delivery of services across all jurisdictions.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April to Question 42441 on the Employment Tribunals Service, what discussions she has had with HM Courts & Tribunals Service on collecting aggregate data on the time taken to resolve individual employment tribunal cases.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Ministers regularly meet the CEO of HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to discuss a wide range of matters relating to the operation of court and tribunal services, including the Employment Tribunal. These discussions are aimed at ensuring the efficient delivery of services across all jurisdictions. Publication of Employment Tribunal Timeliness information ceased under the previous Government from April 2021 when the jurisdiction moved to an interim database with only limited management information available. Between July 2022 and July 2024, Employment Tribunals have gradually transitioned to a new case management system as part of the Reform project and timeliness data for single cases only from this system was published for the first time in March 2025 - www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics. It is expected that timeliness and jurisdictional data will be available for single cases held on the reformed platform later in the year.
It is not possible to produce timeliness or jurisdictional data for the legacy case management system, therefore the data we can currently provide is limited. Work is currently ongoing to transition the remaining legacy caseload to the new case management system as part of the HMCTS data strategy to enable more comprehensive data to be produced. That is expected to be available later this year.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April to Question 42850 on Employment Tribunals Service: Standards, what assessment her Department has made of the level of staffing of (a) judges and (b) other people necessary to cut delays and ensure timely access to justice for all.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Ministers regularly meet the CEO of HM Courts & Tribunals Service to discuss a wide range of matters relating to the operation of court and tribunal services, including the Employment Tribunal. The issue of staffing requirements and the role of case coordinators across all jurisdictions form part of those discussions.
Future staffing requirements at the Employment Tribunal will be subject to the outcome of the Spending Review. Judicial recruitment is undertaken to replace known leavers, and also takes into consideration current pressures and assumed future workloads. The transition to the new reformed platform will help to improve efficiency and productivity.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2025 to Question 42439 on the Employment Tribunals Service, what discussions she has had with HM Courts & Tribunals Service on collecting data on the number of Employment Tribunal cases outstanding aggregated by the duration of time they have been pending.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Ministers regularly meet the CEO of HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to discuss a wide range of matters relating to the operation of court and tribunal services, including the Employment Tribunal. These discussions are part of ongoing engagement to ensure the efficient delivery of services across all jurisdictions. Work is currently ongoing to transition the remaining legacy caseload to the new case management system as part of the HMCTS data strategy to enable more comprehensive data to be produced.
That is expected to be available later this year.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve data capture on the (a) number of private law proceedings that involve allegations of child sexual abuse and (b) outcomes of these cases.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts and Tribunals Service will be introducing a new case management system for private law children‘s cases, Manage Cases. This system will identify each type of abuse or harm allegation made by an applicant, including child sexual abuse. This will support data capture of the number of proceedings in which child sexual abuse is a factor and the outcome of these cases. The national roll out of the new digital system is expected to begin later this year.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent representations she has received from legal professional bodies on the performance of employment tribunals.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Ministers and officials have regular meetings with legal professional bodies to discuss a range of matters about the justice system.
To address the demands the Employment Tribunals are facing, their capacity is being increased. Following recruitment, in 2024 we had 21 more salaried judges in the Employment Tribunals than in 2023, and further recruitment for up to 36 salaried Employment Judges commenced in March 2025. 50 fee paid employment judges were appointed in 2024 and recruitment will commence for another 50 in early 2026.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional judges, deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems, and the use of remote hearing technology. A ‘Virtual Region’ of judges has delivered over 1,500 extra sitting days.
As a result, the Lord Chancellor was able to announce on 5 March a sitting day allocation for the Employment Tribunals of 33,900 in 2025/26, the maximum allocation they are able to sit.
We do recognise that there remain significant challenges for the performance of the Employment Tribunals. We are therefore continuing to monitor demand on Employment Tribunals and are working with the judiciary, HMCTS and the Department for Business and Trade on any further actions needed to alleviate pressures on the Employment Tribunals, improve efficiency and reduce waiting times to ensure timely access to justice for claimants and respondents.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to speed up proceedings within the Family Court system; and what initiatives are being implemented to enhance the digitisation of documents and processes.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Delays in the court process can have a significant impact on children and families. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is committed to improving timeliness of cases and reducing the outstanding caseload.
The Family Justice Board agreed system-wide national targets for reducing delay in 2024/25. These are focused on closing the longest running cases in private and public law, resulting in a reduction of the private law cases by 10% and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluded within the statutory 26-week timeframe.
The HMCTS Reform Programme has introduced several new digital services within the Family Courts, enhancing and automating the administration of family court orders. These services encompass Divorce, Financial Remedy, and Public Law Proceedings. Currently, HMCTS is piloting a new digital service for private law proceedings, aiming to replicate the administrative improvements seen in other family services. This service is scheduled to be implemented across England and Wales by the end of 2025.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) judges and (b) other people were employed in the Employment Tribunal by HM Courts and Tribunals Service in each of the last five years; and what proportion of those roles were vacant in that time period.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of judges and members of tribunals is published annually in the ‘Diversity of the Judiciary’ statistics. Headcount figures can be found at the tabs named “3_2_JO_Area”.
2023: 2023_JDS_tables.ods
We are maintaining investment in the annual recruitment of about 1,000 judges and non-legal tribunal members across all jurisdictions. Annual recruitment requirements for judicial and non-legal tribunal members are determined by business need and judicial departures.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has recorded Employment Tribunal staff (including legal caseworker) headcount in December each year as follows between 2020 and 2024:
Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
HMCTS Staff | 465 | 514 | 500 | 470 | 427 |
Agency Staff | 100 | 104 | 106 | 112 | 118 |
Total | 565 | 618 | 606 | 582 | 545 |
Staff vacancies in the Employment Tribunal over this period are not held centrally. Recruitment requirements for HMCTS staff and legal officers in the Employment Tribunal is determined in response to business need and staff departures.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will hold discussions with HM Courts and Tribunals Service on the potential merits of ensuring that domestic abuse victims attending Liverpool Family Court can use a different entrance to the building to that of their alleged perpetrator.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is important that the Family Court works for children and families. That is why the Government is committed to ensuring there are adequate protections in place for users and that we improve the timeliness of cases.
I am aware that, due to the building’s architecture, layout and shared use there are issues in arranging separate entrances at Liverpool Family Court. To mitigate this, it is possible to arrange staggered arrival times, secure waiting rooms and separate exits. Special measures can be requested by contacting the court as soon as possible, ideally 5 days before the hearing. Liverpool Family Court's contact details can be found at: Liverpool Civil and Family Court - Find a Court or Tribunal - GOV.UK.
We recognise the significant impact that delay can have on children and families. We are committed to tackling backlog of cases we inherited from the previous Government and the latest published data shows progress is being made. When comparing October to December 2024 to the same period in 2023, under the previous Government, the average duration of private law cases has fallen from 45 to 42 weeks and care proceedings over the same period have fallen from 42 weeks to 36. We know that there is more to do and the Family Justice Board has agreed system-wide targets for 2025/26 and these are focused on increasing the proportion of public law cases concluded within the statutory 26-week timeframe and closing the longest running cases in both private and public law. To support this, Cheshire and Merseyside is a designated Trailblazer area, developing and testing targeted solutions to address the biggest local drivers of delays.
Our new Pathfinder courts are improving the experience and outcomes for children and parents involved in private law proceedings, and particularly those who may need additional support such as domestic abuse survivors. The pilot courts work closely with local domestic abuse agencies, including Independent Domestic Violence Advisers. The Pathfinder pilot started in February 2022 in Dorset and North Wales. It was expanded to Southeast Wales and Birmingham in 2024 and Mid and West Wales on 3 March 2025. Pathfinder will be rolled out to West Yorkshire on 3 June. Areas delivering the Pathfinder model for private family law are making significant progress in addressing delay, with the initial two pilot sites showing an 11-week reduction in average case duration and a 50% reduction in outstanding caseloads between February 2022 and November 2024.
Alongside improving how cases move through the system we need to properly support those involved. Victims of domestic abuse must receive emotional and practical support to recover and rebuild their lives. The Ministry of Justice provide Police and Crime Commissioners with annual grant funding to commission local support services. This includes ring-fenced funding for sexual violence and domestic abuse community-based services and Independent Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Advisors. Alongside this the Home Office runs the Flexible Fund, administered by Women’s Aid, which offers financial support to victims in specific circumstances.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of Employment Tribunal cases are withdrawn or settled before hearing due to delays in the listing process; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact on business productivity.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Settlements and withdrawals from legal proceedings may take place for a variety of reasons which are unconnected to delays in the court process. HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not hold separate data on reasons for settlements or withdrawals. Moreover, listing is exclusively a judicial function.