The EmployerKit Tribunal Risk Index
An employment tribunal is a real and rising risk for UK employers in 2026. There were 95,900 tribunal claims in 2023/24, up +11.6% year on year, and most settle before a hearing (76% via ACAS). Cost depends on the claim: the average unfair dismissal award was £13,749, but discrimination awards are uncapped and far higher. The average sex discrimination award was £53,403, around three times the £18,000 most guides cite.
95,900
Tribunal claims (2023/24)
+11.6%
Year on year change
£53,403
Avg sex discrimination award
76%
Settle before hearing
Key findings: UK tribunal risk in 2026
- 95,900 employment tribunal claims in 2023/24, up 11.6% year on year (MoJ Tribunals Statistics).
- Single claim receipts rose a further 23% to 42,000 in 2024/25 (MoJ, Jan to March 2025 release).
- 76% of claims settle before a hearing (ACAS Early Conciliation, 2023/24).
- Average sex discrimination award £53,403, around 3x the ~£18k most guides cite. Discrimination awards are uncapped (MoJ, 2023/24).
- Largest single tribunal award ~£995,000 in 2023/24 (MoJ).
- Four claim types make up around 60% of receipts: unfair dismissal 22%, breach of contract 14%, disability discrimination 13%, unauthorised deductions 12% (MoJ, FY 2024/25).
- 1.23m UK workers on zero hours contracts, a record high, with 32.2% of hospitality workers on them (ONS EMP17, Feb 2026).
- Day-one unfair dismissal rights in 2027 remove the two-year qualifying period: the single biggest jump in who can bring a claim (Employment Rights Act 2025).
The figure most sites get wrong
The average successful sex discrimination award is £53,403, nearly three times the ~£18,000 most guides quote.
Discrimination awards are uncapped. The single largest tribunal award in 2023/24 reached £995,000. That is the gap between what employers budget for and what a lost discrimination claim can actually cost.
What does a tribunal claim cost? Average award by claim type
Mean successful award, 2023/24 Ministry of Justice data. The cheapest claims to lose are statutory and capped. The expensive ones, the uncapped discrimination claims, are the ones employers most often underestimate.
Orange bars are uncapped discrimination claims. Teal bars are capped or statutory claims. Median awards are lower: the mean is pulled up by a long tail of very large awards. Source: MoJ Employment Tribunal award statistics, 2023/24.
Are tribunal claims rising? The five-year trend
Claims dipped after the pandemic backlog cleared, then climbed back to 95,900 in 2023/24. We omit 2021/22 entirely: the Ministry of Justice did not publish it because of the ECM Reform system migration, and we will not fill a gap with an estimate.
Total employment tribunal receipts, 2019/20 to 2023/24. 2021/22 is omitted: MoJ did not publish it due to the ECM Reform system migration. Source: MoJ Tribunals Statistics.
Which claims do employers face most? Claims by type
Unfair dismissal leads, but breach of contract, disability discrimination and unauthorised deductions together make up most of the rest. These are Q1 2024/25 proportions, which the MoJ confirms hold across the 2024/25 financial year.
Share of total tribunal receipts by claim type. Q1 2024/25 proportions, which the MoJ Jan to March 2025 bulletin confirms hold across FY 2024/25: four jurisdictions make up around 60% of receipts. Source: MoJ Tribunal Statistics.
22%
Unfair dismissal
14%
Breach of contract
13%
Disability discrimination
12%
Unauthorised deductions
8%
Working time
Which sectors carry the most rising risk? Zero hours concentration
Zero hours concentration is a leading indicator of risk ahead of the Employment Rights Act 2025 guaranteed-hours rules. Hospitality sits in a category of its own: 32.2% of the accommodation and food services workforce is on zero hours contracts, part of a record 1,230,000 UK workers on them. When the right to guaranteed hours lands in autumn 2026, those are the contracts most exposed to challenge.
Share of each sector's workforce on zero hours contracts. Items marked * are ONS EMP17 estimates not separately verified from public summaries. Source: ONS EMP17, February 2026 release.
What raises tribunal risk next? The Employment Rights Act 2025 timeline
The biggest shake-up to UK employment law in a generation, phased from April 2026 to 2027. Each change widens who can claim or raises the cost of getting it wrong.
Live now. The first wave of day-one rights and doubled penalties.
Statutory Sick Pay from day one
Around 1.3m more workers qualify for SSP. Payroll and unauthorised-deduction exposure rises.
Day-one paternity, parental and adoption leave
Qualifying service periods removed. New starters get family-leave rights from day one.
Collective redundancy protective award doubled
Maximum award for failing to consult rises from 90 to 180 days' pay per affected employee.
Sexual harassment as protected disclosure
Harassment reports now qualify as whistleblowing, strengthening worker protection from detriment.
The zero-hours and contract-change rules that reshape casual workforces.
Right to guaranteed hours
The 1.23m workers on zero hours contracts gain the right to guaranteed hours reflecting what they regularly work.
Flexible working as a strengthened default
Refusals must be justified against statutory grounds with reasons documented.
Fire and rehire restrictions
Dismissing and re-engaging staff to force restricted contract changes becomes automatically unfair.
The single biggest risk jump: day-one unfair dismissal, plus real enforcement.
Day-one unfair dismissal rights
Removes the two-year qualifying period (cut to a six-month qualifying period). The single largest expansion of who can bring a claim.
Fair Work Agency enforcement
A single agency with around 550 inspectors and penalties up to 200% of underpayments.
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Tribunal Cost Calculator
Model the basic and compensatory award for a specific claim against your business.
EmployerKit Audit
Check your contracts and policies against the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes and find where you are exposed.
The State of UK Employment 2026
Three interactive tools: tribunal risk by sector, the full ERA 2025 timeline and a zero hours heatmap.
The Employment Tribunal Process
What happens after a claim is filed, typical costs, and how to prepare a strong defence.
Related EmployerKit guides
Day-One Unfair Dismissal Rights
The 2027 change that removes the two-year qualifying period, and how to get your probation processes ready.
The Sexual Harassment Employer Duty
Your proactive duty to prevent harassment, and why it now qualifies as a protected disclosure.
Collective Redundancy Protective Award
Why the maximum award for failing to consult doubled from 90 to 180 days' pay in April 2026.
Methodology and sources
The Tribunal Risk Index pulls only verified figures from official UK sources, each shown with its dataset and year. We are deliberately honest about gaps: the Ministry of Justice did not publish jurisdiction-level breakdowns or a 2021/22 trend point during the ECM Reform system migration, so we use Q1 2024/25 proportions for the claim-type split and omit 2021/22 from the trend rather than estimate it. The index is a planning aid, not legal advice. It is updated as new MoJ quarterly statistics are released.
- Employment tribunal claims and trend: Ministry of Justice Tribunals Statistics. 95,900 total receipts in 2023/24 (+11.6% year on year). 2024/25 saw 42,000 single claims, up 23%. Source
- 2024/25 quarterly release: MoJ Tribunal Statistics Quarterly, January to March 2025. Single claim receipts up 23% to 42,000; four jurisdictions make up around 60% of receipts. Source
- Average and maximum awards: MoJ Employment Tribunal award statistics, 2023/24. Average sex discrimination award £53,403; largest single award ~£995,000. Discrimination awards are uncapped. Source
- Settlement rate: ACAS Early Conciliation Statistics 2023/24. 76% of claims settle before a hearing. Source
- Zero hours contracts: ONS EMP17, February 2026 release. 1.23 million workers on zero hours contracts (Oct–Dec 2025 record high); 32.2% of the accommodation and food services workforce. Source
- Employment Rights Act 2025: GOV.UK Employment Rights Act 2025 implementation roadmap and ACAS guidance. Source
Some sector-level zero hours figures beyond hospitality and health are ONS EMP17 estimates not separately verified from public summaries, and are marked with an asterisk in the chart. Last updated 2026-06-29.
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