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An estimate based on research conducted by law firm Dickinson Dees suggests that if the present trends of employment tribunal claims continue at the present rate, the costs of defending themselves and rendering compensation for next three years will cost for the UK employers £2.6 bn more than what they paid in the last three years.

In the next three years, the employers are expected to get involved in approximately 370,000 more tribunal cases than the last three years as per the Dickinson Dees Employment Tribunal Trends Index.

Costing almost £7,000 on an average for every tribunal they get involved in, employers will witness an increase of 46% in the total costs of defending themselves in the coming three years.

James Wilders, an employment partner at Dickinson Dees, further reports that there has been a continuous increase in the number of cases that have been heard by employment tribunals since 1998, with around 20,000 more cases adding to the number of cases on the list every year. The main reasons for such a rise in the number of cases include changes in the laws and regulations, awareness of employees’ rights and higher compensation in addition to the policy of non-payment to lawyers, if they lose the case.

Several changes in law leading to increasing number of cases are often blamed on the European Union that has been instrumental in bringing about change in employment laws. However, the problem lies with the way laws are legislated in UK itself. This is substantiated by the fact that every new enactment results in a rapid increase in the number of cases as compared to the previous scenario.

It would not be wrong to predict that if the Equality Bill is passed by the Parliament, the tribunals will be flooded with cases of equal pay to keep them completely occupied for the next two years. The new employment law amendments are also likely to further increase the number of cases in the next few years.

Employers need to keep themselves up to date with HR and personnel developments to avoid potential legal action from employers by taking an accredited CIPD course such as the Certificate in Employment Relations Law and Practice available from the experts at Workplace Law Training.