Rebecca Sulley tells HRNews about a study by Pinsent Masons linking Acas delays, neurodivergence and the use of AI to the rise in ET claims.
HR-News-Tile-1200x675pxV2

We're sorry, this video is not available in your location.

  • Transcript

    Tribunal claims are on the rise again. Research by Pinsent Masons shows a clear upward trend across all sectors across the UK. That’s the conclusion of a study by the firm’s Employment Team into the claims data of 27 of their clients. The findings shed light on why claims are rising, with some important takeaways for HR. Concerns include Acas being under-resourced, a noticeable increase in claims linked to neurodivergence, and AI now playing a role in helping individuals to draft and pursue claims on their own. We’ll speak to one of the lawyers involved in the research. 

    The findings align with a report from earlier this year, in which the Law Society of England and Wales noted that open tribunal cases rose to 491,000 by March 2025, up from 444,000 in March 2023. In response, the government committed to recruiting 1,000 new judges, including employment judges. We’ve also heard anecdotal reports recently that Acas’ early conciliation service faces similar pressures. In some cases, backlogs have caused early conciliation periods to expire before Acas could begin the process. We expect the ERB to further increase ET claim volumes by introducing new rights, extending existing ones, lengthening claim timeframes, and reintroducing legal aid. Employers may want to assess whether their current ET management strategies will remain resilient post the Employment Rights Bill.

    So let’s get a view on this. Rebecca Sulley has been looking at the data and what it means for clients and earlier she joined me by phone from Birmingham to discuss it:

    Rebecca Sulley: “We have noticed quite an increase in the tribunal claims numbers. So what we wanted to do is kind of look at our individual clients and the tribunal numbers they're receiving versus how many employees they have to get a bit of an assessment as to whether the average number of claims is increasing which across the piece, it generally is. The claim numbers have increased from what we were seeing this time last year.”

    Joe Glavina: “We know that Acas is under-resourced and our research shows that impact that is having. Can you tell me about that, Becci?”

    Rebecca Sulley: “Acas generally are quite under resourced. In terms of the turnaround of the conciliators picking up the early conciliation and making contact, we are finding that this is actually either right at the end of the early conciliation period, or even sometimes afterwards, after conciliation has ended, which is meaning that it's really reducing either the time or the ability for employers to try and potentially settle a matter at an early conciliation stage which is what the whole idea of the ACAS early conciliation period is. So we are seeing that employers aren't getting that opportunity. Sometimes, as well, that can infuriate claimants who are thinking that the employer isn't responding and that could well really increase the fact that they might bring a tribunal claim because they are annoyed that they haven't been involved in the early conciliation period.”

    Joe Glavina: “Following on from that, I see one of the findings is there are more claims slipping straight through into the tribunal system, so swelling the backlog and creating extra cost and stress for clients. Am I reading that right?”

    Rebecca Sulley: “Yes. I think in terms of the likelihood of claims proceeding, especially for things like unlawful deduction from wages which employers will quite often try and settle at an early conciliation stage if the money is owed, if they're not getting that opportunity then it's far more likely it's going through the tribunal system. There's obviously a delay in the tribunal so it's taking a lot longer to progress before it even comes in front of a respondent to look at, and obviously that, in turn, is creating extra cost and extra stress for all involved.”

    Joe Glavina: “I see that clients have told us they’re seeing a noticeable rise in claims relating to neurodiversity. What’s going on there, Becci?”

    Rebecca Sulley: “Generally, I think there's a growing awareness of neurodiversity amongst the public and it would seem like a lot more people are being diagnosed earlier so they have that better awareness. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean that all employers are prepared to handle people who are neurodivergent and make the adjustments required, or address some of the behavioural issues that accompany that. So it may be that inadvertently HR, or the people within the business, are exposing organisations to a risk either through the recruitment practice right at the start, or it could well be through performance management target setting, a lack of line managers knowing exactly how to manage these individuals and so we are really seeing an increase in claims where disability is alleged and being neurodivergent and having a specific condition is something that the individual is pursuing. So it's certainly something we're seeing more of, and I think if employers do not adapt their processes or fail to comply with the recommendations made by occupational health, it really increases the chance of, firstly, a claim, and secondly, a kind of successful claim that could damage the reputation for the employer.”

    Joe Glavina: “I see one of the conclusions drawn from the research is that AI is evidently making it easier for claimants to seek advice on how to progress an employment dispute and then to prepare their claim.”

    Rebecca Sulley: “Yes, absolutely. I mean, the number of claim forms that we see drafted with AI has dramatically increased and it is quite obvious to us which ones have been drafted using AI. What it does mean, unfortunately, is that claimants are often expanding a claim because they're understanding about new types of discrimination that they might be alleging, and it means that they don't need a lawyer or legal input at the outset - they'll get AI to draft their claim form - but they might not necessarily understand what they're actually putting in there. So it can be quite difficult with a very well drafted claim form, but the claimant not actually knowing what they need to do in the background. So it does mean that we're getting much more well-articulated claims from individuals who might not have put one in before because they weren't sure what the precise legal claims are. That has been removed now with the use of AI, which specifies exactly what they need to put in their claim form and it also means that we're getting very detailed claim forms which HR, or ourselves as lawyers, are having to respond to, and we're seeing it throughout the whole kind of employment experience, really, so right back to grievances as well. So HR will probably get far more grievances drafted with AI than they used to get. The same is true of the tribunal process, unfortunately.”

    Joe Glavina: “So finally Becci, what’s your key message for our viewers?”

    Rebecca Sulley: “I think the key point is where we can resolve matters at an early stage when the employment relationship is still intact, it’s worth doing and really it's probably worth seeking legal input at a much earlier stage in the process as you ordinarily would do. Whether that be making reasonable adjustments for people with mental health or medical conditions, whether that be looking at adjusting performance triggers, really, because the likelihood of claims pursuing from EC stage seems to have increased it’s much better to try and tackle it before it gets to that stage.”

    Becci was talking about analysis we carried out on our own client data but, more broadly, we also now have the government’s latest tribunal figures for claims in the period January to March 2025. Becci went on to talk to me about that, and what employers can take from it. You can see that programme next week so do watch this space.

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.