Tribunals and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly – July to September 2017
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Tribunals and Gender Recognition Statistics. The bulletin presents the latest statistics on type and volume of tribunal cases received, disposed of and outstanding and the number of Gender Recognition Certificates applied for and granted.  

The bulletin focuses on information on receipts (i.e. cases received by HMCTS), the outcome of cases by category (e.g. cases disposed of at hearing) and the caseload outstanding (snapshot of live cases at a specific point in time) for the three largest tribunals: Employment, Immigration and Asylum, and Social Security and Child Support. Additional data are available on timeliness, jurisdiction, Employment Tribunal fees, smaller tribunals, Employment Appeal Tribunal and regional receipts for the Employment Tribunal (management information). 

Annual data are published as follows:
* Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal annual statistics are published in September; these include information on representation of claimants, compensation and costs awarded in the Employment Tribunal for the financial year.
* Data from the Special Educational Needs and Disability tribunals covering the academic year are published in December. Further breakdowns include information on the number of appeals registered by type and nature of special education need, and outcomes.
* The number of adjournments and postponements by jurisdiction are published annually in June, along with the number of judicial salaried and fee-paid sittings by jurisdiction.

In addition to monitoring tribunal workloads and timeliness, they are used to assist in the development, monitoring and evaluation of tribunal related policy in collaboration with other Government departments, e.g. DWP, BEIS and Home Office.

Published 14 December 2017 
Tribunals and Gender Recognition Statistics 
Quarterly, July to September 2017 (Provisional)  
including annual Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunals, 
Academic Year 2016/17 
Main points 
Increase in overall 
volumes of disposals and 
caseload outstanding 
 
Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) 
recorded no substantive change in receipts, but an 
increase in disposals and caseload outstanding (up 
11% and 13% respectively) this quarter compared to the 
same quarter in 2016. 
ESA and PIP continue to 
drive SSCS appeal 
increases 
 
Caseload outstanding for Social Security and Child 
Support (SSCS) appeals continues to increase (up 71% 
when compared to September 2016, to 108,400). Receipts 
and disposals were also up 10% and 18% respectively, 
when compared to July to September 2016. 
Decrease in FTTIAC 
receipts, disposals and 
caseload outstanding 
 
In July to September 2017, First-tier Tribunal Immigration 
and Asylum Chamber (FTTIAC) receipts fell by a third (to 
9,700) compared to the same period in 2016. This was 
driven by a fall in all case types except Deportation 
Appeals. Disposals and caseload outstanding also fell 
in the same period (by 4% and 43% respectively). 
Since the introduction of 
fees there were 87,200 ET 
issue fees and 48,600 ET 
hearing fees requested
 
Over the period of Employment Tribunal (ET) fees, 66% 
of issue fees requested were paid in full while 22% were 
awarded either full or partial remission. For hearing 
fees, these proportions were 35% and 19% respectively.  
Single claim Employment 
Tribunal receipts are up 
64% – the highest in the 
last four years 
 
Single ET claims – this quarter receipts and caseload 
outstanding increased 64% and 37% respectively, as 
disposals decreased 1% 
Multiple ET claims - receipts decreased by 15%, and 
disposals and caseload outstanding increased by 42% and
13% respectively 
SEN appeals and 
disposals up 27% and 39% 
respectively
 
In the academic year 2016/17 HMCTS tribunals recorded 
4,725 registered appeals in relation to SEN, an increase 
of 27% when compared to the prior year. In the same 
period, 4,387 SEN appeals were disposed, an increase of 
39% on 2015/16. 
This publication gives tribunals and gender recognition certificate statistics for the latest 
quarter (July to September 2017), compared to the same quarter the previous year. An 
annual chapter on Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunals are also 
included and an accompanying consultation paper in relation to changes to SEND tribunal 
appeal rate. For technical detail about data sources, quality, policy changes and 
terminology, please refer to the accompanying guide to tribunal statistics. 

2 
1. Overview of Tribunals  
119,800 receipts and 103,000 disposals recorded by HMCTS 
 
Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) recorded no substantive change in 
receipts, but an increase in disposals and caseload outstanding in this quarter when 
compared to the same quarter in 2016. Disposals and caseload outstanding were up 
11% and 13% respectively, driven by the SSCS and Employment tribunal. 
 
This summary bulletin focuses mainly on the three largest tribunals as they make up the 
majority (82%) of tribunal receipts in July to September 2017. These are;   
 
Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) - 48% of receipts  
 
Employment Tribunal (ET) – 25% of receipts. 
 
First Tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (FTTIAC) – 8% of receipts 
Figure 1: Receipts, disposals and caseload outstanding1 for all tribunals (Source: 
Table S.2-4) 
 
 
Figure 1 shows trends in receipts, disposals and caseload outstanding over the last 3 years 
for the main tribunals and overall. In July to September 2017, overall receipts remained 
stable as a result of a 10% rise in SSCS receipts being offset by a 33% fall in FTTIAC and a 
4% fall in ET receipts. SSCS however continued to drive the increase in overall disposals 
and caseload outstanding. Overall, tribunals disposed of 11% more cases this quarter, 
compared to July to September 2016. This was driven by an 18% increase in SSCS 
disposals.  
Overall caseload outstanding1 increased by 13%, from 433,001 as at 30 September 2016 to 
491,037 as at 30 September 2017. This was driven by a 71% increase in SSCS cases 
outstanding, although the caseload outstanding of Employment Tribunals also increased, by 
14% over the same period.  
Of the remaining 39 tribunal jurisdictions, mental health is the largest (accounting for 7% of 
all tribunal receipts), with 8,300 receipts, 8,525 disposals and 3,459 outstanding cases in 
the most recent quarter (down 3%, up 2% and up 38% respectively when compared to July 
to September 2016).  
                                               
1 Outstanding caseload is based on a snapshot in time based on the last day of each quarter. 

3 
2. Social Security and Child Support 
ESA and PIP continue to drive SSCS appeal increases 
 
Caseload outstanding for Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) appeals continues 
to increase (up 71%, to 108,400 at the end of September 2017). Receipts and 
disposals were also up 10% and 18% respectively, when compared to July to 
September 2016 
83% of disposals were cleared at hearing with a 64% overturn rate  
 
Of the 53,800 disposals in July to September 2017, 83% were cleared at a hearing and 
of these, 64% had the initial decision revised in favour of the claimant (up from 60% 
in the same period in 2016).  
Figure 2.1: Social Security and Child Support receipts, disposals and caseload 
outstanding, Q1 2015/16 to Q2 2017/18 (Source: Table SSCS.1 and SSCS.2) 
 
 
The increase in SSCS tribunal receipts seen was mainly driven by Employment Support 
Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals which accounted for 
84% of all SSCS appeals in this quarter. This proportion has been gradually increasing 
since 2015/16 Q1, when ESA and PIP accounted for 73% of all SSCS receipts. 
ESA and PIP also make up the majority of SSCS disposals, with 37% and 46% of total 
disposals respectively. Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is gradually being replaced by PIP 
and comprised 3% of total disposals this quarter, down from 4% in the same quarter of 
2016.  
The number of disposals has gradually increased alongside receipts. In July to September 
2017, 53,750 cases were disposed, up 18% when compared with the same period in 2016. 
Of these disposals, 44,687 (83%) were cleared at hearing and of these 64% were found in 
favour of the customer. This overturn rate varied by benefit type, with ESA having 67% in 
favour of the customer, PIP - 68%, DLA - 61% and Job Seekers Allowance - 50%.  
There were 108,420 SSCS cases outstanding at the end of September 2017, up 71% 
compared to the same period in 2016. This was driven by a larger number of appeal 
receipts than disposals in recent periods. Of those cases disposed of by SSCS in July to 
September 2017, the mean age of a case at disposal was 23 weeks, 7 weeks more than the 
same period in 2016. 

4 
3. Immigration and Asylum 
First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (FTTIAC)  
 
In July to September 2017, FTTIAC receipts decreased by a third (to 9,700) compared 
to the same period in 2016 continuing the decline seen following the introduction of the 
Immigration Act 2014.  
 
In the same period, disposals decreased by 4% from 18,000 to 17,200, and caseload 
outstanding was down by 43% to 36,100, with the latter continuing the decline seen 
since the peak in April to June 2016. 
 
Figure 3.1: First-tier Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber receipts, disposals 
and caseload outstanding, Q1 2015/16 to Q2 2017/18 (Source: Tables FIA.1 and FIA.2) 
 
 
The Immigration Act 2014 (IA 2014) tribunal categories of Human Rights, EEA Free 
Movement (EEA) and Asylum/Protection (AP) continue to make up the majority (97%) of the 
FTTIAC new receipts.  
Human Rights receipts continue to decline, dropping 38% to 3,910 in July to September 
2017, compared to the same period in 2016. This proportionally represents 41% of all 
FTTIAC receipts (down from 43% a year ago). EEA receipts also decreased by 49% (from 
4,011 to 2,044), as well as proportionally decreasing from 28% to 21% of all FTTIAC 
receipts. Asylum/Protection receipts decreased by 10%, but increased in proportion from 
26% to 35% of all FTTIAC receipts.  
The FTTIAC disposed of 17,203 appeals, down 4% on July to September 2016. 8% of First-
tier disposals are comprised of pre-Immigration Act categories, down from 44% a year ago. 
Human Rights make up the largest proportion (46%) of all FTTIAC disposals in July to 
September 2016, up from 22% a year ago.  
Of the disposals made in the FTTIAC, 82% were determined i.e. a decision was made by a 
judge at a hearing or on the papers; 12% were withdrawn; 4% were invalid or out of time, 
and 2% were struck-out for non-payment of the appeal fee. Of the 14,113 determined, 49% 
were allowed/granted, although this varied across the IA 2014 categories (from 41% for 
Asylum/Protection and EEA to 58% for Human Rights). 
In the FTTIAC, total mean average overall timeliness across all categories has increased by 
4 weeks to 52 weeks. Asylum/Protection had the lowest average time to clearance with 28 
weeks, having decreased from 40 weeks in July to September 2016, while most of the other 
appeal categories took over 52 weeks to be cleared. 

5 
For the UTIAC, receipts increased 27% (to 1,943) and disposals decreased 5% (to 1,585) in 
July to September 2017. Asylum/Protection accounted for the majority of UTIAC receipts 
(38%) and disposals (41%) this quarter, while pre-immigration act categories (Managed 
Migration, Entry Clearance, Family Visit Visa, Deportation and Deprivation of Citizenship 
appeals) accounted for 27% of UTIAC receipts and 35% of UTIAC disposals (down 30 
percentage points each in the last year).This demonstrates the gradual phasing out of these 
case types. 
 
UTIAC Immigration and Asylum Judicial Reviews  
 
In July to September 2017, there were 2,500 Immigration and Asylum Judicial Review 
receipts and 2,600 disposed of at the UTIAC, down 27% and 25% respectively on 
July to September 2016. 
 
Of the 2,564 Immigration and Asylum Judicial Reviews disposed of in the UTIAC in July to 
September 2017, 69% were determined and 3% were transferred to the Administrative 
Court. The remaining 28% were in an ‘other category’, which included cases that were 
withdrawn or not served (see table UIA.2).  
During July to September 2017, 1,788 Judicial Review applications were determined by 
paper hearing, of which 8% were allowed to continue to the substantive hearing stage. A 
further 757 were reconsidered at an oral renewal, of which 29% were allowed to continue to 
the substantive hearing stage. There were 48 substantive hearings which were determined 
in July to September 2017, of which 38% were granted in favour of the appellant (see table 
UIA.3). 

6 
4. Employment Tribunals 
Employment Tribunal Fees 
 
Between 29 July 2013 (when ET fees were first introduced) and 26 July 2017 (when ET 
fees were abolished), 87,200 ET issue fees and 48,600 hearing fees were requested. 
Over the same period, 66% of the issue fees and 35% of the hearing fees were paid in 
full. Additionally, 19,600 issue fee remissions and 9,300 hearing fee remissions were 
awarded (representing 22% and 19% of all fees requested respectively). 
 
Figure 4.1: Fees Issued, remissions applied for and remissions awarded for single 
cases (Source: Table ETF.1) 
 
Figure 4.2: Fees Issued, remissions applied for and remissions awarded for multiple 
cases (Source: Table ETF.1)       
 
There were 1,447 Employment Tribunal (ET) issue fees requested in the final period – 1 
July to 26 July 2017. Of these, 856 (59%) cases had the full issue fee paid outright and 253 
(17%) cases were awarded either a full or partial remission. In the same period, 783 hearing 
fees were requested and 36 of these (5%) were paid in full while 30 (63%) of remission 
applications were awarded either a full or partial remission.  
Summary statistics relating to employment tribunal fee refunds will be published in the next 
edition of this publication (due to be published 8 March 2018). 
 

7 
Employment tribunal single cases 
 
In July to September 2017, receipts increased 64% and disposals decreased by 
1%, which drove a 37% increase in single case caseload outstanding. Mean age 
at disposal increased by 2 weeks to 28 weeks, compared to the same period in 
2016. 
Employment tribunal multiple cases 
 
Receipts decreased by 15%, disposals increased 42%, and caseload outstanding 
increased by 13%. Mean age at disposal increased to 217 weeks (an increase of 12 
weeks) over the same period. 
 
Figure 4.3: Index of Employment Tribunals single & multiple claim receipts, disposals 
& claims outstanding, Q4 2009/10 - Q2 2017/18 (Source: Table S.2-4)2 
Baseline 2009/10 Q1 
Since Q2 2014/15 single claim receipts have remained relatively stable, with around 4,200 
claims per quarter. Until this recent quarter where it has increased to 7,042 single claims. 
This recent increase could be due to the abolition of Employment Tribunal Fees on 26 July 
2017. 
There were 23,297 multiple claims received this quarter, a decrease of 15% on the same 
period last year. Multiple claims tend to be more volatile as they can contain a high number 
of claims against a single employer. The multiple claims related to 429 multiple claim cases 
(an average of 54 claims per multiple case) – up from 262 cases (average of 104 claims per 
case) in the same period a year ago. 
The Employment Tribunal disposed of 10,165 claims during July to September 2017, up 
23% on the same period in 2016.  This was driven by a 42% increase in multiple claims 
disposals, which make up two-thirds of all disposals. The multiple claims relate to 181 
multiple claim cases, down from 202 cases in July to September 2016. Single claim 
disposals also decreased slightly over the same period (down 1%).   
In July to September 2017, 22% of jurisdictional complaints disposed were Acas conciliated 
settlements, 40% were dismissed upon withdrawal, 8% were withdrawn, and 5% were 
successful at hearing. The most common jurisdictional complaint disposed of was 
‘Unauthorised deductions (formerly Wages Act)’. 
                                               
2 The Q3 2014/15 disposals data point is not included, in order to aid comparability. This figure was a 
disproportionately high outlier (index: 24.2) as a result of the disposal of a large multiple claim between an airline 
and its employees. 

8 
5. Gender Recognition Certificate 
96 GRP applications were received and 126 were disposed of between July and 
September 2017, 126 applications were pending by the end of September 2017 
 
Of the 126 applications disposed of, a full Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) was 
granted in 92% of cases (116 full GRCs), up from 90% in the same period in 2016.  
Since April 2005/06, two thirds of interim certificates (130 of the 196 Interim GRC 
granted) were converted into full GRC, 58% of which were within 30 weeks. 
 
Over the long-term the number of applications dealt with by the Gender Recognition Panel 
(GRP) has been gradually increasing. Annual trends show that although there has been 
greater fluctuation in disposals than receipts, disposals are usually lower, leading to an 
increase in applications pending in the last few years. 
Figure 5.1: Applications for Gender Recognition Certificates received, disposed of 
and pending, 2008/09 to 2016/17 (Source: Table GRP.1 and GRP.2) 
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
2008/09
2009/10
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
 
 
In July to September 2017, 116 full certificates were granted, of which 12 were for married 
applicants and 104 for single applicants. Sixty five percent (65%) of the individuals with full 
certificates granted were registered male at birth and 41 (35%) were registered female at 
birth. Figure 5.2 below shows the number of individuals granted full certificates by their year 
of birth. 
Figure 5.2: Full Gender Recognition Certificates granted by year of birth, 2008/09 to 
2016/17 (Source: Table GRP.4) 
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17
1990
onwards
1980-1989
1970-1979
1960-1969
1950-1959
Up to 1949
 

6. Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) 
Increase in SEN appeals recorded, up 27% when compared to 2015/16 
 
In the academic year 2016/17 HMCTS tribunals recorded 4,725 registered appeals in 
relation to SEN, an increase of 27% when compared to the prior year. In the same 
period, 4,387 SEN appeals were disposed, an increase of 39% on 2015/16. 
 
The increase is likely due to the reforms made in 2014 to introduce Education Health 
and Care plans (EHC) expanding the criteria of SEND to cover 0-25 year olds in 
education (excluding Higher education) and to cover health and care as well as 
education.   
 
Figure 6.1: Registered SEND appeals, 1994/95 to 2016/17 
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
5,000
1994-1995
1996-1997
1998-1999
2000-2001
2002-2003
2004-2005
2006-2007
2008-2009
2010-2011
2012-2013
2014-2015
2016-2017
Registered Appeals
Academic Year
 
Of the 4,725 registered SEND appeals in 2016/17, approximately one third (32%) were 
against ‘refusal to secure an EHC assessment’, and over half (55%) were in relation to the 
content of EHC plans. The most common type of educational need identified in appeals 
continues to be Autistic Spectrum Disorder, accounting for 43% (2,025) of all SEN appeals. 
Due to the high number of non-completions (4,565, or 97% of all SEN appeals) it is not 
possible to provide meaningful analysis of child ethnicity in SEN appeals. 
In 2016/17 HMCTS recorded 4,387 outcomes in relation to SEN appeals, an increase of 
39% compared to 2015/16. Of these outcomes, 36% (1,599) of cases were decided by 
tribunal, an increase of eight percentage points on 2015/16. Of these decided cases, 89% 
(1,418) were in favour of the appellant, similar to the proportion in the prior year (at 88%).  
In 2016/17, there were 132 registered appeals in relation to disability discrimination, one 
less (1%) than the previous year. Of these appeals, five cases (4%) were related to 
permanent exclusion from school, four cases (3%) were related to temporary exclusion, and 
the remainder were uncategorised. 
The SEND tribunals disposed of 111 Disability Discrimination claims in 2016/17, up from 88 
(26%) in the previous year. Of these disposals, 63 claims (57%) were decided at hearing, 
and 48 appeals were withdrawn prior to the hearing taking place. Of those decided at 
hearing 52% were dismissed and 48% upheld. 

10 
Further information 
Provisional data and revisions 
An annual data reconciliation exercise is completed at the end of each reporting year and as 
such final revised data for July to September 2017 will be published in September 2018. If 
revisions are needed in the subsequent year, these will be clearly annotated in the tables. 
Rounding convention 
Within the ‘Key Findings’ sections, figures greater than 1,000 are rounded to the nearest 
100. 
Accompanying files 
As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release: 
 
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. 
 
A set of overview tables, covering each section of this bulletin, an annual set of 
tables covering further breakdown of Special Educational Needs and Disability 
statistics for the Academic Year 2016/17 and two additional sets of tables on 
Employment Tribunals (for ET Fees and ET Management information – Annex C). 
 
A set of CSV files including data on each of the three large tribunals (SSCS, 
Employment and Immigration and Asylum) and an overall receipts and disposals 
CSV, covering all tribunal types. 
 
Additional releases this quarter’s publication: 
o A CSV on SSCS receipts and disposals by tribunal venue and benefit type, July 
to September 2017 (to be published from this quarter onwards) 
o Representation at SSCS tribunals for ESA and PIP hearings by hearing 
outcome, 2013/14 to 2017/18 Q2 
o Updated statistical notice on Immigration and Asylum (I&A) Detained 
Immigration Appeals (DIA) 
o I&A receipts, disposals and outcomes by Party for First Tier Permission 
Applications, Upper Tier Permission Applications and Upper Tribunal Appeals. 
Contact 
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice or HMCTS press office: 
Andrew Hamilton (MOJ) - email: xxx@xxx.xx   
Alice Booth (HMCTS) - email: xxx@xxx.xx 
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice Statistics Analytical 
Services division of the Ministry of Justice: 
Bridgette Miles - email: xxx@xxx.xx 
 
Next update: 8 March 2018 (URL: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics) 
 
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