Official Statistics

Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2024

Published 13 March 2025

1. Main Points

This publication presents tribunals statistics for the latest quarter (October to December, Q3 2024/25), compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The collection page with links to the accompanying documents for this publication can be found here.

This publication does not include all the tribunals – figures for Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum (UTIAC) are excluded. The total of the remaining jurisdictions is referred to in the accompanying tables as the ‘Interim Total’ and has been provided to allow like-for-like comparisons over time.

Data from the missing tribunals will be published as soon as they become available and are quality assured.

The interim[footnote 1] overall volume of open cases has increased, while receipts have remained unchanged and disposals have decreased	In October to December 2024 His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) recorded little change in the interim[footnote 1] total for receipts, and a 13% decrease in the total for disposals, compared to the same quarter in 2023. Receipts have exceeded disposals over the last year, resulting in a 7% increase in open caseload to 702,000 at the end of December 2024.
SSCS receipts decreased, while disposals remained stable and open cases increased	Compared to the same period in 2023, Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) receipts decreased by 3% and disposals remained stable. Receipts have exceeded disposals over the last year, resulting in a 2% increase in open cases.
FTTIAC receipts, disposals and open cases all increased	FTTIAC receipts increased by 7%, while disposals increased by 10% in October to December 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Over the last year, receipts have exceeded cases disposed of, leading to an increase in open caseload of 81%.
Employment Tribunal receipts and open caseload increased, while disposals decreased [footnote 2]	Single Employment Tribunal (ET) receipts increased by 36%, while disposals increased by 35% in Q3 2024/25, compared to the same period a year ago. Open caseload also increased by 31% over the same period as receipts have exceeded disposals over the last year. In Q3 2024/25 multiple ET claim receipts increased by 1%, while disposals decreased by 78% compared to the same period a year ago. Open claims remained stable over the same period.
Gender Recognition Certificates receipts, disposals and open caseload all increased	This quarter there were 320 Gender Recognition Panel (GRP) applications received, 400 disposals and an open caseload of 820. GRP receipts increased by 6%, while disposals increased by 63% in Q3 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. Although both receipts and disposals have risen compared to Q3 2023, there have been more receipts over the last year than disposals, resulting in an increase in open caseload of 3%.

For feedback related to the content of this publication, please contact us at CAJS@justice.gov.uk

2. Statistician’s Comment

This quarter overall tribunal receipts remained stable while disposals decreased when compared to the same period last year. The open caseload has continued to increase in the latest quarter, as receipts have exceeded disposals for a third consecutive quarter.

Within the receipts, ET single and FTTIAC recorded increases, compared with decreases for SSCS and First-tier Tax Chamber.

The fall in disposals was driven by the volatility in multiple claims, in particular the recording of a large multiple case disposed of in the same quarter last year.

The largest driver in the increase in open caseload was from FTTIAC claims. Despite FTTIAC disposals increasing compared to the same period last year, this remains well below the level of receipts and has been so for the entire year.

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3. Overview of Tribunals

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The receipts total was 104,000 and the disposals total was 77,000 in Q3 2024/25

In October to December 2024, HMCTS recorded little change in the total for receipts, and a 13% decrease in the totals for disposals, when compared to the same quarter in 2023. Over the year, receipts exceeded disposals and the open caseload total increased by 7%, to 702,000, at the end of the period.

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This publication does not include Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) data from Q2 of 2021/22 and Employment Tribunals data for Q1 2021/22 due to database migration. The total of the remaining jurisdictions is referred to in this publication and accompanying tables as the ‘Interim Total’ and has been provided to allow consistent year-on-year comparisons over time.

This summary bulletin focuses mainly on the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal, the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (FTTIAC), and the Employment Tribunal as they made up the majority (78%) of tribunal receipts in October to December 2024:

• Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) - 32% of receipts
• Employment Tribunal (ET) - 25% of receipts
• First-tier tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (FTTIAC) - 21% of receipts

Figure 3.1: Receipts and disposals interim totals, Q3 2020/21 to Q3 2024/25 (Source: Tables S_2 and S_3)

Figure 3.2: Open caseload^{[footnote 3]} interim totals, Q3 2020/21 to Q3 2024/25 (Source: Table S_4)

The charts above show the trends in receipts, disposals and open caseload over the last five years for SSCS, FTTIAC, ET (single + multiple claims), and all tribunals (using the Interim^{[footnote 1]} Total measure).

In October to December 2024, overall receipts remained stable compared to October to December 2023. The biggest increases occurred in Employment Single claims and First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (36% and 7% respectively), and were offset by decreases in First-tier Tax Chamber and SSCS (70% and 3% respectively). The steep decrease in First-tier Tax Chamber was driven by very high values in Q3 2023/24 which have since stabilized. Please note there is a difference between appeals recorded in HMRC and the First-tier Tax Tribunals figures included in the statistics reported here. These differences relate to each organization counting things at different times and live appeals relating to decisions where HMRC is not a party to the proceedings.

Overall disposals decreased by 13% in October to December 2024 (to 77,000). The Employment Tribunal disposed of 49% less claims in Q3 2024/25 compared to Q3 2023/24.

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4. Social Security and Child Support

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From April 2023 the SSCS Tribunal started to list cases using a new Scheduling and Listing solution. This, alongside HMCTS migrating to a new Strategic Data Platform, has resulted in some cases heard and decided using this new listing solution for SSCS Cardiff not currently being included in the data. Revised, complete data will be published as soon as they are available.

Compared to the same period in 2023, Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) receipts decreased by 3% and disposals remained stable. Open cases increased by 2%, as receipts have continued to exceed disposals over the last year.

Of the 30,000 disposals in Q3 2024/25, 60% were cleared at a hearing and of these, 59% had the initial decision revised in favour of the claimant (compared to 56% and 62% in the same period in 2023/24 respectively).

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Figure 4.1: Social Security and Child Support receipts and disposals, Q3 2020/21 to Q3 2024/25 (Source: Tables SSCS_1 and SSCS_2)

Figure 4.2: Social Security and Child Support open caseload, Q3 2020/21 to Q3 2024/25 (Source: Table SSCS_4)

Following a drop due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, SSCS receipts increased significantly from Q2 2021/22 and have remained relatively stable since Q1 2022/23.

SSCS receipts decreased by 3% this quarter, to 34,000, compared to October to December 2023. This was driven by decreases in Personal Independence Payment and Employment Support Allowance (by 8% and 26% respectively). The biggest contributors in terms of receipt volumes are PIP and UC appeals, which accounted for 63% and 19% respectively of all SSCS receipts in October to December 2024.

In October to December 2024, SSCS disposals remained stable when compared to the same period in 2023, at 30,000. PIP made up nearly two thirds (61%), and UC, around a fifth (22%) of SSCS disposal volumes.

Of the disposals made by the SSCS tribunal, 18,000 (60%) were cleared at hearing, and of these, 59% were overturned in favour of the claimant (up from 56% and down from 62% on the same period in 2023 respectively). This overturn rate varied by benefit type, with PIP at 67%, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 61%, Employment Support Allowance (ESA) 52%, and UC 48%. The PIP, DLA, ESA and UC overturn rates mostly decreased compared with October to December 2023 (PIP down 3, DLA and ESA up 3 each, and UC down 6 percentage points).

There were 80,000 SSCS open caseload at the end of December 2024, an increase of 2% compared to the same period in 2023. SSCS open caseload decreased gradually between Q4 2017/18 and Q2 2021/22 (from a peak of 125,000 to 32,000), only rising in Q3 2019/20. However, since Q2 2021/22, SSCS open caseload started to rise again, increasing each quarter except Q4 2023/24 and Q2 2024/25.

Of those cases disposed of by the SSCS tribunal in October to December 2024, the mean age of a case at disposal was 30 weeks, a 5 week increase compared to the same period in 2023 (see table T_2).

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5. Immigration and Asylum

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First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (FTTIAC)

In October to December 2024, FTTIAC receipts increased by 7% to 22,000, compared to the same quarter last year. Disposals increased by 10% (to 10,000), over the same period.

In the same period, open caseload increased by 81% (to 75,000).

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Figure 5.1: First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber receipts and disposals, Q3 2020/21 to Q3 2024/25 (Source: Tables FIA_1 and FIA_2)

Figure 5.2: First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber open caseload, Q3 2020/21 to Q3 2024/25 (Source: Table FIA_4)

This quarter receipts increased by 7% (to 22,000) compared to the same period last year, predominantly driven by increases in Human Rights and EEA Free Movement (by 45% and 10% respectively).. After a period of stability in 2022/23 following recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, receipts rose steeply in Q3 2023/24 (to 20,000) driven by increases in Asylum/Protection/Revocation of Protection, due to the Home Office’s work to tackle the backlog of legacy asylum claims. While the number of receipts received for Asylum/Protection/Revocation of Protection have reduced (down 4%) compared to the same quarter in 2023/24, these remain elevated, at the second highest quarterly volume in the time series.

Human Rights (HR) receipts increased by 45% to 5,400 over the same period. HR and AP proportionally represented 25% and 56% of all FTTIAC receipts respectively (up 6 and down 7 percentage points respectively from a year ago).

In Q3 2024/25, FTTIAC disposals increased by 10% to 10,000. This rise in disposals was driven by increases in Asylum/Protection/Revocation of Protection (by 104%), although this was offset by falls in disposals for HR and EEA free movement (by 30% and 13% respectively). Asylum/Protection/Revocation of Protection disposals made up the largest proportion (48%) of all FTTIAC disposals in October to December 2024, up from 26% a year ago.

Of the disposals made in the FTTIAC this quarter, 64% were determined i.e. a decision was made by a judge at a hearing or on the papers (compared to 68% in Q3 2023/24); 19% were withdrawn (compared to 18% in Q3 2023/24); 4% were struck out for non-payment of the appeal fee (compared to 4% in Q3 2023/24), and 5% were invalid or out of time (compared to 4% in Q3 2023/24). Almost half (43%) of the 6,700 cases determined at a hearing or on the papers were allowed/granted, although this varied by case type (46% of Asylum/Protection, 50% of Human Rights and 31% of EEA Free Movement appeals were allowed/granted).

In the FTTIAC, the mean time taken to clear appeals across all categories was at 49 weeks in the latest quarter, 6 weeks longer compared to the same period a year ago. Asylum/Protection, Human Rights and EEA Free Movement had mean times taken of 48, 51, and 47 weeks respectively.

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Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber Judicial Reviews (UTIAC JRs)

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In October to December 2024, there were 930 Immigration and Asylum Judicial Review receipts and 1,300 disposals, an increase of 31% and an increase of 77% respectively compared to October to December 2023.

Of the 1,300 Immigration and Asylum Judicial Reviews disposed of, 44% were determined and 1% were transferred to the Administrative Court. The remaining 55% were in the ‘Other’ category, which includes cases that were withdrawn or not served.

During October to December 2024, 710 UTIAC Judicial Review applications were determined by paper hearing, of which 17% were allowed to continue to the substantive hearing stage. A further 110 were reconsidered at an oral renewal, of which 79% were allowed to continue to the substantive hearing stage. There were 14 substantive hearings which were determined in October to December 2024 of which 14% were granted in favour of the appellant (see table UIA_3).

Over the last year, disposals exceeded receipts, which means open caseload fell by 16%, to 1,300, compared to October to December 2023.

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6. Employment Tribunals

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Employment Tribunal single cases

In Q3 2024/25, the Employment Tribunal received 11,000 single claim receipts and disposed of 9,600 single claim cases. There were 43,000 single claim cases in the open caseload at the end of December.

These figures can be found in the summary (S1, S2, S3 and S4) tables of the main tables and include data from both legacy and Reform case management systems. Numbers in ET_R tables include only Reform single claim cases, so they will not match figures in the summary tables.

Employment Tribunal lead multiple cases

There were 440 lead multiple cases received and 530 cases disposed of in Q3 2024. The number of open lead cases stood at 6,800 at the end of December. These lead multiple cover 15,000 Multiple claim receipts, 4,300 disposals and an open caseload of 424,000 at the end of December.

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Employment Tribunals transitioned to a new database (Employment Case Management) during March to May 2021. It has not been possible to provide full results from both databases during this migration period on a consistent basis. Therefore, Employment Tribunal (ET) data is not available for Q1 2021/22, and as a result we are unable to present data for the full financial year of 2021/22.

The total figures reported here and in the summary tables are produced from a combination of systems (ECM Reform and ECM Legacy) using a temporary tactical solution. We estimate there is a slight overcounting of approximately 4,000 receipts across the series in total since July 2022, and 3,000 open cases. We aim to revise the figures later this year following migration of all data to the Reform system.

The Jurisdictional breakdown for receipts, disposals, open caseload, and timeliness is now available for Single Employment Tribunals (ET) on the Reform system only. This has been reintroduced to the publication in the ET_R and timeliness tables within the main tables to benefit the broadest range of user needs. Please note ET Jurisdictional and Timeliness data on the Legacy ECM will not be available as we cannot accurately derive this data from the legacy system. However, additional data will be added to these tables as multiple cases and the remainder of the single cases transfer to the Reform system. A timetable for the roll out to Reform is included in our Tribunals guide here.

In Q3 2024/25, there were 26,000 Employment Tribunals (ET) receipts, 42% (11,000) of which were single claims receipts, and the remaining 58% (15,000) were multiple claims receipts, within 440 lead multiple cases. The ET disposed of 14,000 claims in Q3 2024/25. At the end of Q3 2024/25, there were 467,000 open claims.

Figure 6.1: Employment Tribunals single and multiple claims receipts and disposals, Q3 2020/21 to Q3 2024/25 (Source: Tables S_2 and S_3)

• Note that the axes for single and multiple claims use different scales

Figure 6.2: Employment Tribunals single and multiple claims open caseload, Q3 2020/21 to Q3 2024/25 (Source: Table S_4)

• Note that the axes for single and multiple claims use different scales

Single claim open caseload (at 43,000) remains below the peak of 44,000 in Q3 2020/21, although this is up 31% compared to the same period in 2023/24.

There were 15,000 multiple claims received this quarter. Multiple claims tend to be more volatile as they can be skewed by a high number of claims against a single employer.

The peaks seen in the disposal chart in Q3 2021/22, Q3 2023/24 and Q4 2023/24 are due to large spikes in multiple claims:

• A dismissal judgment was issued in December 2021 for 48,000 British Airways claims covering 71,000 jurisdictions. These claims had been withdrawn over a number of years but given the volume and restrictions with the old case management system these had not been formally closed until now, hence the spike. This figure is expected to be revised again as there is still closure action to take place on some of the claims.
• Between November 2023 and March 2024 a bulk case of multiple claims for equal pay against Glasgow City Council have been settled and subsequently withdrawn, resulting in the spike in disposals in Q3 and Q4 2023/24.

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7. Gender Recognition Certificates

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320 Gender Recognition Panel (GRP) applications were received and 400 were disposed of between October to December 2024; 820 applications were pending by the end of December 2024

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The GRP received 320 applications this quarter, an increase of 6% compared to October to December 2023. Of the 400 applications disposed of, a full Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) was granted in 89% of cases (360 full GRCs), up 3 percentage points compared to the same period in 2023 (where 220 full GRCs were granted out of 250 disposals).

GRP receipts have increased annually since 2017/18, following a reduction in the application fee in May 2021 from £140 to £5, and the move to an online application process in July 2022. This has come at the same time as an increase in open caseload. The open caseload reached 820 in Q3 2024/25, 3% higher than the open caseload value of 790 in the same period of last year, although this is a reduction of 9% compared to the previous quarter.

Since 2017/18, the increase in receipts and open caseload also corresponded to an elevated level of cases refused. This quarter, 2% of all disposals (7 cases) have been refused. This is a 7 percentage points decrease from the same quarter last year (9%, 22 refusals out of 250 total disposals in Q3 2023/24). From December 2024, cases that have gone past the deadline to respond to a Judge, and not co-operated with directions in several months may be classed as ‘withdrawn’ at the discretion of the judge. This may have an influence on the lower refusal numbers if some of these applications were disposed of as refused prior to the introduction of this practice. Applications can be refused if they do not meet the required criteria. More information on the criteria can be found at the following link: [Apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)] (https://www.gov.uk/apply-gender-recognition-certificate).

Since April 2005/06, when the Gender Recognition Act 2004 came into effect, 62% of interim certificates (170 of the 280 interim GRCs granted) have been converted to a full GRC, 52% of which were converted within 30 weeks. No interim certificates were converted to a full GRC between October to December 2024. The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act (2020), which took effect from 6th April 2022, changed the process for no fault divorces, reducing the need for interim certificates; we therefore expect to see a considerable drop in these.

Of the 360 full certificates granted in October to December 2024, 37 were for married applicants and 320 for single applicants. 200 (56%) of the individuals granted full certificates were registered male at birth while 160 (44%) were registered female at birth.

Figure 7.1: Applications for Gender Recognition Certificates received, disposed of and pending, Q3 2020/21 to Q3 2024/25 (Source: Tables GRP_1 and GRP_2)

Figure 7.2: Full Gender Recognition Certificates granted by year of birth, 2018/19 to 2023/24 (Source: Table GRP_4)

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8. Further information

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Rounding convention

Figures greater than 10,000 are rounded to the nearest 1,000, those between 1,000 and 10,000 are rounded to the nearest 100 and those between 100 to 1,000 are rounded to the nearest 10. Less than 100 are given as the actual number.

Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release and can be accessed through the collection page here:

• A supporting document providing further information on how the data is collected and processed, as well as information on the revisions policy and legislation relevant to trends and background on the functioning of the tribunal system.

• The quality statement published with this guide sets out our policies for producing quality statistical outputs for the information we provide to maintain our users’ understanding and trust.

• A set of overview tables, covering each section of this bulletin.

• Tables detailing Employment Tribunal receipts by month and region. These tables contain only single claims registered on the new Reform case management system.

• A set of CSV files including data on overall receipts and disposals CSV, covering all tribunal types.

• Additional releases this quarter:

  • Update to the statistical notice on Immigration and Asylum (I&A) Detained Immigration Appeals (DIA) to include data to Q3 2024/25.

Future publications

Our statisticians regularly review the content of publications. Development of new and improved statistical outputs is usually dependent on reallocating existing resources. As part of our continual review and prioritisation, we welcome user feedback on existing outputs including content, breadth, frequency and methodology. Please send any comments you have on this publication including suggestions for further developments or reductions in content.

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You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Contact

Press office - email: pressofficecourtslaw@justice.gov.uk

Other enquiries and feedback on these statistics should be directed to the Courts and People division of the Ministry of Justice:

Rita Kumi-Ampofo, Laura Jones or Maria Ionescu - email: CAJS@justice.gov.uk

Next update: 12 June 2025 (URL: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics)

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1. The interim totals for the overall volumes of tribunal receipts, disposals and open caseload exclude the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) for which the data is currently not available. See the main tables S_2, S_3 and S_4 for more information. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Includes single and multiple Employment Tribunal claims. ↩

3. Open caseload is based on a snapshot in time based on the last day of each quarter. ↩