Official Statistics

Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2026

Published 11 June 2026

1. Main Points

This publication presents tribunals statistics for the latest quarter (January to March, Q4 2025/26), compared to the same quarter the previous year, alongside annual data for 2025/26. The collection page with links to the accompanying documents for this publication can be found here.

Annual data on adjournments, postponements and sitting days across the tribunals has been postponed this quarter whilst we work to amalgamate First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) data for adjournments and postponements following the transition to a new case management system (Core Case Data). The currently available data taken from the previous case management system (ARIA) is estimated to include only around 10% of the total caseload; therefore, this work will enable a complete and comparable picture of the data over this period. We will publish these tables when the data is engineered and quality checks have been completed.

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 Renters Rights Act received royal assent on the 27th October 2025, and key changes were implemented on 1st May 2026. The Act gives tenants new rights and introduces new rules for private landlords in England. As it was implemented at the beginning of May, any impact on the statistics for the property chamber contained within the summary tables of this publication won’t be seen until the data for April to June is published in September 2026; the first full quarter of operation covering July to September 2026 will be published in December 2026. We also intend to add more granular data on this tribunal to this publication going forward.

The annual interim[footnote 1] totals of receipts, disposals and open caseload all increased	In 2025/26 His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) recorded an 11% increase in the interim total for receipts, and a 4% increase in the interim total for disposals, when compared to 2024/25. As receipts have continued to exceed disposals over this period, the interim total for open cases increased by 16% to 860,000 at the end of March 2026.
Annual SSCS receipts and open caseload increased, and disposals decreased	Compared to 2024/25, Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) receipts increased by 10% and disposals decreased by 14%. Receipts have continued to exceed disposals over the last year, resulting in a 39% increase in open cases.
Annual FTTIAC receipts, disposals and open caseload all increased	First-tier Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber (FTTIAC) receipts and disposals both increased (by 49% and 39% respectively) in 2025/26 compared to the previous financial year. Over the last few years, receipts have exceeded cases disposed of, with 2025/26 showing an increase of 68% in open caseload compared to 2024/25.
Annual Employment Tribunal receipts and disposals decreased, while open caseload increased [footnote 2]	Compared to 2024/25, Single Employment Tribunal (ET) receipts increased by 39% in 2025/26, while disposals decreased by 12%. Open caseload also increased by 55% over the same period as receipts have exceeded disposals for the last few years. In 2025/26, receipts and disposals for multiple ET claims decreased by 40% and 39%, respectively, compared to 2024/25. As receipts exceeded disposals, the open caseload rose by 5%.
Annual Gender Recognition Certificates receipts, disposals and open cases increased	In 2025/26 there were 1,900 Gender Recognition Panel (GRP) applications received, 1,800 disposals and an open caseload of 1,200. Annual GRP receipts and disposals increased (by 27% and 31% respectively) in 2025/26, compared to 2024/25. Although both receipts and disposals have risen compared to the previous year, there have been more receipts than disposals, resulting in an increase in open caseload of 15%.

2. Statistician’s Comment

In 2025/26, the annual interim total of Tribunal receipts has continued to rise to the highest level since 2017/18. Meanwhile, disposals have also risen compared to the previous year, although they remain below the total in 2023/24. While both receipts and disposals have increased in 2025/26 compared to the previous year, receipts remain higher than disposals, resulting in a rise in open caseload over the same period.

The rise in receipts was driven predominantly by continued elevation in FTTIAC claims, alongside increases in SEND, SSCS and single employment tribunal claims. However, this trend has been partially offset by a fall in multiple ET claims, which tend to be more volatile as they can be skewed by a high number of claims against a single employer. For those tribunals (FTTIAC, ET and SSCS) where we can measure the mean time to clearance, case lengths have all increased on average between 2024/25 and 2025/26.

In parallel, the increase in disposals over the same period is driven by rises in FTTIAC and First-tier Tax Chamber (FTTC) volumes. The rise in FTTC disposals in 2025/26 is primarily due to the determination of lead cases, and the multiple appeals which share common issues of law and fact which sat behind them.

The Renters Rights Act received royal assent on the 27th October 2025, and key changes were implemented on 1st May 2026. We intend to add more granular data on this tribunal to the publication going forward.

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3. Overview of Tribunals

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The receipts interim total was 461,000 and disposals interim total was 319,000 in 2025/26

In 2025/26, HMCTS recorded an 11% increase in the interim total for receipts, and a 4% increase in the interim totals for disposals, when compared to the previous financial year. Over the year, receipts continued to exceed disposals, and open caseload interim total increased by 16%, to 860,000, at the end of the period.

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This publication does not include Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) data since Q2 of 2021/22 and Employment Tribunals data for Q1 2021/22 due to database migration as stated above. 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 interim receipts in January to March 2026(Q4):

• Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) - 37% of receipts
• Employment Tribunal – single and multiple (ET) - 18% of receipts
• First-tier tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (FTTIAC) - 23% of receipts

Figure 3.1: Receipts and disposals interim totals, Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (Source: Tables S_2 and S_3)

Figure 3.2: Open caseload^{[footnote 3]} interim totals, Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (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 Total measure).

In January to March 2026, overall interim receipts remained stable compared to January to March 2025. This was driven by increases in single Employment Tribunal claims, offset by decreases in multiple claims (up 50% and down 73%, respectively).

Overall interim disposals increased by 11% in January to March 2026 (to 85,000). This was mainly driven by a 34% increase in First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) disposals. SSCS and Employment Tribunal (single and multiple claims) disposals decreased by 6% and 22% respectively in January to March 2026 compared to January to March 2025.

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4. Social Security and Child Support

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In 2025/26, Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) receipts and open caseload increased (by 10% and 39% respectively) when compared to 2024/25. Disposals decreased (by 14%) over the same period.

Of the 101,000 disposals in 2025/26 63% were cleared at a hearing and of these, 59% had the initial decision revised in favour of the claimant (compared to 61% and 60% in the same period in 2024/25 respectively).

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We are currently investigating data in the venue level CSV for the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal. This CSV has been removed from the publication whilst this work is ongoing. This data will be made available as soon as possible when this work is complete, and quality assurance checks have been undertaken. This CSV is still available for previous quarters (prior to Q3 2025/26), but caution should be used when comparing venue level data whilst this work is ongoing.

From April 2023 the SSCS Tribunal started to list cases using a new Scheduling and Listing solution. Alongside this, HMCTS has been migrating to a new platform used for the storage and extraction of data (the Strategic Data Platform). As a result, some cases heard and decided using the new listing system for SSCS Cardiff are not yet included in the published data. Revised, complete data will be published as soon as they are available.

In January 2026, a data quality issue was identified affecting open caseload for SSCS, with caseload being potentially over-reported by ~5k cases. This is currently being investigated and may lead to some revisions when this process is complete.

Figure 4.1: Social Security and Child Support receipts and disposals, Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (Source: Tables SSCS_1 and SSCS_2)

Figure 4.2: Social Security and Child Support open caseload, Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (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.

In 2025/26, there were 146,000 SSCS receipts, an increase of 10% compared to 2024/25. Over the same period, disposals decreased by 14% to 101,000 in 2025/26. Open caseload stood at 113,000 at the end of the 2025/26 financial year (March 2026), an increase of 39% compared to the same time last year.

SSCS receipts increased by 32% this quarter, to 45,000 appeals, compared to January to March 2025. This was driven by an increase in Personal Independence Payment (PIP) (by 24%), which accounted for 61% of all SSCS receipts in January to March 2026.

In January to March 2026, SSCS disposals decreased by 6% when compared to the same period in 2025 (from 30,000 in Q4 2024/25 to 28,000 in Q4 2025/26). PIP made up nearly two thirds of SSCS disposals (64%).

Of the disposals made by the SSCS tribunal, 17,000 (59%) were cleared at hearing, and of these, 60% were overturned in favour of the customer (down from 64% and up from 59% compared to the same period in 2025 respectively). This overturn rate varied by benefit type, with PIP at 67%, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 63%, Employment Support Allowance (ESA) 44%, and Universal Credit (UC) 43%. The PIP, DLA, UC and ESA overturn rates mostly increased compared with January to March 2025 (PIP and DLA up 1 and up 7 percentage points respectively, whereas UC and ESA were down 6 and down 5 percentage points respectively).

There were 113,000 SSCS open caseload at the end of March 2026, an increase of 39% compared to the same period in 2025. 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, SSCS open caseload has 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 January to March 2026, the mean age of a case at disposal was 35 weeks, a 3 week increase compared to the same period in 2025 (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 2025/26, FTTIAC receipts increased by 49% to 118,000, compared to 2024/25. Disposals increased by 39% (to 57,000), over the same period.

In the same period, open caseload increased by 68% (to 152,000).

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Figure 5.1: First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber receipts and disposals, Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (Source: Tables FIA_1 and FIA_2)

Figure 5.2: First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber open caseload, Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (Source: Table FIA_4)

After a period of stability in 2022/23 following recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, receipts rose steeply in 2023/24 and 2024/25 driven by increases in Asylum/Protection/Revocation of Protection (AP), due to the Home Office’s work to tackle the backlog of legacy asylum claims. In 2025/26 receipts increased by 49% (to 118,000) compared to 2024/25. The number of Asylum/Protection (AP) receipts makes up over half (54%) of all FTTIAC receipts.

Overall, FTTIAC receipts have increased by 5% in Q4 2025/26 compared to the same period in 2024/25. AP receipts increased by 6% (to 15,000) over the same time period and are at the highest quarterly volume in the time series. European Economic Area (EEA) Free Movement receipts also increased by 15% to 8,200 compared to Q4 2024/25. AP and EEA proportionally represented 53% and 30% of all FTTIAC quarterly receipts respectively (the same proportion and up 3 percentage points respectively from a year ago).

In January to March 2026, FTTIAC disposals increased by 34% to 15,000. This rise in disposals was driven by an increase in Asylum/Protection/Revocation of Protection disposals (by 41%), which made up the largest proportion (51%) of all FTTIAC disposals in January to March 2026, up from 49% a year ago. In contrast, Human Rights decreased by 3% to 2,900 over the same period.

Of the disposals made in the FTTIAC this quarter, 46% were determined i.e. a decision was made by a judge at a hearing or on the papers (compared to 59% in Q4 2024/25); 26% were withdrawn (compared to 20% in Q4 2024/25); 19% were struck out for non-payment of the appeal fee (compared to 6% in Q4 2024/25), and 9% were invalid or out of time (compared to 8% in Q4 2024/25). Two fifths (39%) of the 7,000 cases determined at a hearing or on the papers were allowed/granted, although this varied by case type (40% of Asylum/Protection, 44% of Human Rights and 30% of EEA Free Movement appeals were allowed/granted).

In the FTTIAC, the mean time taken to clear appeals across all categories is at 61 weeks this quarter, which is 11 weeks longer compared to the same period a year ago. Asylum/Protection, Human Rights and EEA Free Movement had mean times taken of 67, 71, and 46 weeks respectively.

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

Receipts and disposals for UTIAC JR’s do not include urgent cases. Therefore, caution should be used when comparing the open caseload to these flows as there may be small differences.

In 2025/26 UTIAC judicial review receipts increased by 33%, to 4,800, compared to the previous financial year. Disposals increased by 3% to 5,100 whilst open caseload rose by 60%, to 2,100, compared to 2024/25.

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In January to March 2026, there were 1,200 Immigration and Asylum Judicial Review receipts and 1,400 disposals, an increase of 22% and an increase of 16% respectively compared to January to March 2025.

Of the 1,400 Immigration and Asylum Judicial Reviews disposed of, 55% were determined and 4% were transferred to the Administrative Court. The remaining 41% were in the ‘Other’ category, which includes cases that were withdrawn or not served.

During January to March 2026, 960 UTIAC Judicial Review applications were determined by paper hearing, of which 15% were allowed to continue to the substantive hearing stage. A further 51 were reconsidered at an oral renewal, of which 98% were allowed to continue to the substantive hearing stage. There were also 22 substantive hearings which were determined in January to March 2026 of which 41% were granted in favour of the appellant (see table UIA_3).

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6. Employment Tribunals

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Employment Tribunal single cases

In 2025/26, the Employment Tribunal received 50,000 single claim receipts and disposed of 26,000 single claim cases. There were 64,000 single claim open caseload at the end of March 2026.

Employment Tribunal lead multiple cases

There were 2,400 lead multiple cases received and 1,700 cases disposed of in 2025/26. The number of open lead cases stood at 7,500 at the end of 2025/26. These lead multiples cover 44,000 Multiple claim receipts, 19,000 disposals and an open caseload of 467,000 at the end of March.

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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 using a combination of systems (ECM Reform and ECM Legacy). From Q2 2025/26, these systems have been amalgamated to provide combined totals for receipts, disposals, and open caseload, resulting in revisions to these data series. Previously, this data was provided via a temporary tactical solution, which resulted in overcounting of receipts and open caseload. This issue has now been resolved; however, a data quality review is in progress. We estimate the open caseload may still include an approximate 3% overcount for Singles and Lead Multiples.

The Jurisdictional breakdown for receipts, disposals, open caseload, and timeliness is 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. Additional data will be added to these tables as multiple cases and the remainder of the single cases transfer to the Reform system.

In Q4 2025/26, there were 22,000 Employment Tribunals (ET) receipts, 67% (15,000) of which were single claims receipts, and the remaining 33% (7,200) were multiple claims receipts, within 440 lead multiple cases. The ET disposed of 11,000 claims in Q4 2025/26. At the end of Q4 2025/26, there were 531,000 open claims.

Figure 6.1: Employment Tribunals single and multiple claims receipts and disposals, Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (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, Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (Source: Table S_4)

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

Single claim open caseload (at 64,000) increased by 55% compared to the same period in 2024/25.

There were 7,200 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 number of disposals 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.
• 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.

The 12,000 single claim receipts and 5,500 single claim disposals on the Reform system covered 26,000 jurisdictional complaints receipts and 11,000 jurisdictional complaints disposals in Q4 2025/26, while the 37,000 open caseload covered 87,000 jurisdictional complaints at the end of this period. The cases have been undergoing a gradual roll-out, which makes value comparisons to the same period last year meaningless until case numbers stabilise. As such, we will provide proportional comparisons only.

Three jurisdictions make up around 52% of total jurisdictional complaints receipts in Q4 2025/26: Unfair dismissal, Disability discrimination and Unauthorised deductions (formerly Wages Act). These account for 23%, 16%, and 13% respectively of the total jurisdictional complaints receipts in Q4 2025/26, up 1, up 3, and up 1 percentage points respectively compared to the same period last year. This is also reflected in the open caseload, with the same jurisdictions making up around 49% of open cases in Q4 2025/26.

The jurisdictions with the largest number of disposals remain volatile, although this is expected to stabilise as reform is embedded across all areas. In Q4 2025/26, these were Unfair dismissal (25%, up 2 percentage points compared to the same period last year), Breach of Contract (11%, down 4 percentage points), Unauthorised deductions (13%, down 2 percentage points), and Disability discrimination (14%, up 3 percentage points).

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7. Gender Recognition Certificates

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1,900 Gender Recognition Panel (GRP) applications were received and 1,800 were disposed of in 2025/26; 1,200 applications were pending at the end of March 2026

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The GRP received 350 applications this quarter, a decrease of 29% compared to January to March 2025. Of the 520 applications disposed of, a full Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) was granted in 86% of cases (450 full GRCs), up 4 percentage points compared to the same period in 2025 (where 220 full GRCs were granted out of 260 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 the open caseload. Open caseload reached 1,200 cases in Q4 2025/26, 15% higher than the same quarter in 2024/25.

Since April 2005/06, when the Gender Recognition Act 2004 came into effect, 59% of interim certificates (170 of the 290 interim GRCs granted) have been converted to a full GRC, 52% of which were converted within 30 weeks. 1 interim certificate was converted to a full GRC between January to March 2026. 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 450 full certificates granted in January to March 2026, 42 were for married applicants and 400 for single applicants (the remainder were for applicants who selected ‘other’ or whose marital status was unknown). 250 (56%) of the individuals granted full certificates were registered male at birth while 200 (44%) were registered female at birth.

Figure 7.1: Applications for Gender Recognition Certificates received, disposed of and pending, Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (Source: Tables GRP_1 and GRP_2)

Figure 7.2: Full Gender Recognition Certificates granted by year of birth, 2021/22 to 2025/26 (Source: Table GRP_4)

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8. Other Tribunals

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Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

There was an increase in Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) receipts by 23% compared to 2024/25

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) recorded 29,000 receipts in 2025/26, the highest amount in any year in the timeseries, and an increase of 23% compared to the previous year. In the same period, disposals also rose to their highest number in the timeseries at 23,000, and open caseload rose to 17,000, increases of 18% and 43% respectively.

SEN reforms in 2014 introduced Education Health and Care plans (EHCPs) and extended the provision of support from birth to 25 years of age. In addition, the National Trial which began in April 2018 enabled the Tribunal to make non-binding recommendations on the health and social care elements of the EHC plan. Those provisions were mainstreamed with effect from 1 September 2021.

Figure 8.1: Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) receipts, disposals and open caseload Q4 2021/22 to Q4 2025/26 (Source: Tables S_2, S_3, and S_4)

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SEND Rate of Appeal

The SEND appeal rate supplementary which used to be reported this quarter is not included in this publication anymore. The SEND appeal rate is calculated from a combination of both HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and Department of Education (DfE) data. Due to a change in the DfE publication schedule, these statistics are now published solely by the DfE in the Education, Health and Care Plan statistics, to avoid pre-empting the statistics from this publication. The next release will be in June 2026.

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9. Further information

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.

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

• Additional releases this quarter:

  • Update to the statistical notice on Immigration and Asylum (I&A) Detained Immigration Appeals (DIA) to include data to Q4 2025/26.

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.

Official Statistics

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

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:

Laura Davis or Daisy Slade - email: CAJS@justice.gov.uk

Next update: 10 September 2026 (URL: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics)

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For any feedback on the layout or content of this publication or requests for alternative formats, please contact CAJS@justice.gov.uk

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. Includes single and multiple Employment Tribunal claims. ↩

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