Tribunal Awards
The Employment tribunal awards statistics for the year to March 2019 have just been released and make interesting reading as in general average awards are down again. There was a single huge payout in an Unfair Dismissal case of £947,585,* but other than that extraordinary award others seem to be at lower levels than previously, perhaps with the exception of Age discrimination.. These are the statistics for the first full year since tribunal fees were abolished by the supreme Court ruling in July 2017. In the year from April 2018 to March 2019 there were 121,111 applications to the tribunal and although this is an increase on the previous two years it is still nowhere near the 2013 figure of 191,541. Which, at the moment, might be a good thing as the tribunal service is currently overwhelmed and waiting times, to get cases heard is often over a year.
Costs
Getting costs in the employment tribunal is notoriously difficult and it would seem to be getting even more so. In 2017/18 costs were awarded on 479 occasions, but in 2018/19 costs were only awarded in 209 cases – yes only 209 times 0ut of 121,111. The median cost award was £2,400
The full Ministry of Justice figures can be found by clicking here
The chart below shows how awards were made in each jurisdiction
| Jurisdiction | Maximum Award | Median Award | Average Award |
| Unfair Dismissal | £947,585 | £6,243 | £13,704 |
| Religion or belief discrimination | £12,000 | £1,500 | £4,767 |
| Sex Discrimination | £24,103 | £6,498 | £8,774 |
| Race Discrimination | £33,660 | £7,882 | £12,487 |
| Age Discrimination | £172,070 | £12,365 | £26,148 |
| Disability Discrimination | £416,015 | £12,156 | £28,371 |
There were no awards for Sexual Orientation discrimination during the year.
Premier Legal are experts in offering employment tribunal representation. If you would like more information about tribunal awards and costs, please call our employment law experts on: 0115 856 1625
* This is a rare one off – unfair dismissal is usually capped at just over £86k or your annual salary, whichever is lower