Tribunal Statistics quarter 4 - Jan-Mar 2013
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.

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly 
1 January to 31 March 2013 
 
20 June 2013 
 

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
Contents 
Contents 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 
Executive Summary  
 
 
 
 
 
 
3 
Introduction 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5 
Tribunal Receipts 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7 
Tribunal Disposals 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10 
Tribunal Caseload Outstanding 
 
 
 
 
 
13 
Tribunal Timeliness 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15 
Tribunal Adjournments and Postponements by Jurisdiction  
 
18 
Tribunal Judicial Salaried and Fee-paid sittings by Jurisdiction 
 
20 
Annex A: Data quality and sources  
 
 
 
 
22 
Explanatory Notes 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
23 
Contacts 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24 
 
 
2

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
Executive Summary 
This report presents the latest statistics on type and volume of Tribunal 
cases that are received, disposed of or outstanding as of the fourth quarter 
of 2012/13 (January to March). The statistics for the fourth quarter of 
2012/13 also include the annual figures for the financial year 2012/13.  
Receipts   
 
There were 255,000 receipts (or claims) in the fourth quarter of 
2012/13. This is a 15 per cent increase over the previous quarter.  
 
There were 874,000 receipts (or claims) accepted by Her Majesty’s 
Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) in the financial year 2012/13. 
This represents a 17 per cent increase over the previous year. The 
main reason for the increase was the large increase in appeals to the 
Social Security and Child Support (SSCS).  
Disposals  
 
There were 202,000 disposals in January to March 2013. This 
represents a seven per cent increase on October to December 2012. 
 
There were 741,000 disposals in the financial year 2012/13, stable 
since last year. Sixty three per cent of these were SSCS, compared 
with 58 per cent of receipts.  
Caseload outstanding  
 
For all tribunals combined, the caseload outstanding at 31 March 2013 
was 898,000 – 19 per cent higher than the previous year.   
 
In the last year the caseload outstanding has increased for all of the 
largest Tribunals: by 39 per cent for Immigration and Asylum (IA); by 
41 per cent for SSCS and by 13 per cent for Employment Tribunals 
(ET).   
Timeliness 
 
For SSCS Tribunals in 2012/13, 50 per cent of cases were cleared 
(time taken from receipt to outcome) was 13 weeks or less. This rises 
 
3

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
slightly to 17 weeks for IA. For ET, 50 per cent of cases were cleared 
within 31 weeks or less1.  
Adjournments and Postponements  
 
For SSCS cases in 2012/13, 15 per cent of listed cases were 
adjourned, and eight per cent were postponed, both a slight increase 
since 2011/12.  
 
For Immigration and Asylum, 12 per cent of listed hearings were 
adjourned, and nine per cent postponed, again a slight increase on 
2011/12. 
Judicial salaried and fee-paid sitting days  
 
In 2012/13 there were 236,000 sittings recorded across all Tribunals, 
28 per cent of these were classed as salaried and the remaining 72 per 
cent as fee paid.  
                                            
1 Timeliness differs by Tribunal jurisdiction, which may reflect the different processes and 
types of cases. As such, direct comparisons across different types of Tribunals are 
difficult and should be treated with caution. 
 
4

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
Introduction 
Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) was created on 1 
April 2011.  It is an agency of the MoJ and is responsible for the 
administration of the criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in 
England and Wales and non-devolved tribunals in Scotland and Northern 
Ireland. This publication has replaced the Annual Tribunals Statistics and 
includes the additional information previously contained in this report. For 
historic publications of all Tribunals Statistics please see: 
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/series/tribunals-
statistics 
In this report, total figures are used although users should be aware 
different Tribunals have come on line at different points in time. A list of 
tribunals and their former names is in Table B.1. 
Comparisons are typically made with the same quarter in the previous 
year. However, this publication incorporates the information previously in 
the Annual Tribunals Statistics so comparisons are also given with 
previous years.    
Further information on HMCTS and other court statistics, including 
information on the data sources and terminology used in this report can be 
found in the Guide to Court and Administrative Justice Statistics.  
This report presents information on Tribunals activity for the latest quarter 
as well as the financial year 2012/13. Some time series information is also 
given. For further information please see the Excel tables that accompany 
this report. These also contain details of the smaller tribunals which are 
not covered in the text presented here.  
This report focuses on information on receipts (e.g. the acceptance of a 
case by HMCTS), the outcome of cases by category (e.g. cases disposed 
of at hearing) and the caseload outstanding for the three largest Tribunals 
(Employment (ET), Immigration and Asylum (IA) and Social Security and 
Child Support (SSCS). The three largest Tribunals account for over 90 per 
cent of Tribunal activity. 
Historic publications relating to Tribunals can be found at; 
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/series/tribunals-
statistics 
 
5

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
Statistics on the work of the civil, family, magistrates' and Crown Courts in 
England and Wales during the period January to March 2013 are also 
published by the MoJ at the same time as this report. These 
quarterly courts statistics, along with annual statistics, can be found in 
separate reports on the MoJ website, at: 
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/series/courts-
and-sentencing-statistics 
 
 
6

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
Tribunal Receipts  
HMCTS Tribunals recorded 255,084 receipts in the period January to 
March 2013. This represents a 33 per cent increase in the number of 
receipts when compared with the same period of 2012. The majority (61 
per cent) of these were in Social Security and Child Support (SSCS), a 
further 23 per cent were Employment Tribunals (ET) and 9 per cent 
Immigration and Asylum (IA).  
There were 874,164 receipts (or claims) accepted in the financial year 
2012/13. This represents a 17 per cent increase over the previous year.  
Figure 4 shows trends in both receipts and disposals since Q1 2008/09. 
Typically the number of receipts is greater than the number of disposals. 
For more information please see the section on outstanding caseload.  
Figure 4: Receipts and disposals for all Tribunals, 2008/09 to 2012/13 
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
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Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
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Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
2008/09
2009/10
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
Number of receipts and disposals
 (in thousands)
Receipts
Disposals
 
Receipts by Jurisdiction for main Tribunals 
The increase in the overall number of receipts was mainly due to the 37 
per cent increase in the number of appeals received in SSCS in 2012/13, 
compared to the same period in 2011/12. This was driven by appeals in 
relation to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), which more than 
doubled over between Q4 2011/12 and Q4 2012/13 and accounted for 70 
per cent of all SSCS receipts in Q4 2012/13. There was also an increase 
 
7

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
of 3 per cent in Employment receipts, and a 15 per cent decrease in the 
number of receipts for Immigration and Asylum in 2012/13. 
Figure 5: Tribunal receipts by jurisdiction, Q1 2008/09 to Q4 2012/13 
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
2008/9
2009/10
2010/11 
2011/12
2012/13
Number of receipts (thousands)
Social Security and 
Child Support
Employment
Immigration and Asylum
All Tribunals
 
Employment Tribunals (Table 1.2) 
In Employment Tribunals (ET), the number of claims received in January 
to March 2013 was 57,737 – 36 per cent more than in the same period of 
2012. This was driven by an increase in claims under Working Time 
Directive, which doubled over the period, and accounted for just over a 
third of claims.  
The next largest numbers of jurisdictional complaints were received under 
Unauthorised Deductions (16 per cent) and Unfair Dismissal (11 per cent).  
A claim (either single or multiple2) can be brought under a number of 
different jurisdictions, for example under Age Discrimination and Equal 
Pay. Therefore the number of jurisdictional complaints is always greater 
than the total tribunal claims accepted. This means that on average in 
January to March 2013, there were 1.7 jurisdictional complaints per case. 
                                            
2 Claims to the Employment Tribunal may be classified into two broad categories – 
singles and multiples. Multiple cases are where two or more people bring cases, involving 
one or more jurisdiction(s) usually against a single employer but not necessarily so, for 
instance in TUPE cases, and always arising out of the same or very similar 
circumstances. As a multiple, the cases are processed together. 
 
8

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
Immigration and Asylum3 (Table 1.3) 
In the period January to March 2013, there were 23,844 receipts to 
Immigration and Asylum Tribunals; a decrease of 14 per cent when 
compared with the same period of 2011/12. This continues the trend of 
decreasing receipts seen since 2008/09. In the third quarter of 2011/12 fee 
charging was introduced for some case types.  
Managed Migration was the only case type to show an increase since the 
same period last year, of 16 per cent. The largest decrease was in the 
Family Visit Visa category, which has halved over the year. This was partly 
due to the Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2012 which 
came into force on 9 July, which restricted the right of appeal to a 
narrower definition of family visitor4.  
Social Security and Child Support (Table 1.4) 
After ESA (70 per cent), the next highest number of jurisdictional claims 
was for Disability Living Allowance (12 per cent) and Job Seeker’s 
Allowance (JSA) (nine per cent) in Q4. 
The largest decreases in the number of appeals received over the quarter 
were for Retirement Pension of 20 per cent, although this is a small part of 
the overall total (a decrease from 200 in October to December, to 160 in 
January to March).    
 
 
 
                                            
3 All references to Immigration and Asylum refer to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration 
and Asylum Chamber).  It is an independent Tribunal dealing with appeals against 
decisions made by the Home Secretary and Home Office officials in immigration, asylum 
and nationality matters 
4 www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/2012/june/25-family-visit-visa-
appeal  
 
9

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
Tribunal Disposals  
A disposal is the closure of a case when work has ceased to be done. This 
can be through a claim being withdrawn, settled, dismissed or being 
decided at a hearing (either orally or on paper). 
There were a total of 202,327 cases or claims disposed of in January to 
March 2013.  This represents an increase of nine per cent on those cases 
disposed of in the same period in 2012. In total there were 740,605 cases 
or claims disposed of in 2012/13, which is stable since 2011/12.  
Disposals by Jurisdiction 
The increase in the overall number of disposals was predominantly driven 
by SSCS (an increase of seven per cent over 2011/12 and part of a rising 
trend from 2009/10) which accounted for 63 per cent of all disposals in 
2012/13. There was a three per cent drop in disposals for ET claims in 
2012/13; this was driven by a six per cent decrease in single employment 
cases.  
There was also a 36 per cent increase in Residential Property Tribunal 
disposals, and a 44 per cent increase in the number of disposals for the 
Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber).  
Figure 6: Disposals by Tribunal, Q1 2008/09 to Q4 2012/13 
0
50
100
150
200
250
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
2008/09
2009/10
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
Number of disposals (in thousands)
All Tribunals
Social Security and Child 
Support 
Immigration and Asylum 
Employment
 
 
10

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
Employment Tribunals (Tables 2.2 and 2.3) 
Employment Tribunals disposed of 27,778 claims during January to March 
2013, three per cent fewer than in the same period of 2012. The numbers 
of disposals for single claims decreased by ten per cent while the number 
for multiple claims increased by six per cent.  
Between January and March 2013, 58,907 jurisdictional claims were 
disposed of (a two per cent increase on the 57,680 disposed of in the 
same period of the previous year). This means that on average, 2.1 
jurisdictions were disposed of per claim. 
Of the 58,907 jurisdictional complaints that were disposed of: 
 
19 per cent were for unfair dismissal; 
 
17 per cent for unauthorised deductions; 
 
16 per cent were associated with discrimination (age, race, sex, sexual 
orientation, religion or disability) 
 
Immigration and Asylum (Tables 2.4 and 2.5) 
Immigration and Asylum Tribunals disposed of 98,733 disposals claims in 
2012/13, a reduction of 26 per cent on 2011/12. The disposals in January 
to March 2013 of 26,673 were 11 per cent lower than the same quarter in 
the previous year.  
Although the number of receipts is falling, the most disposals (38 per cent) 
were still for Family Visit Visas. Of the 26,673 disposals in the fourth 
quarter of 2012/13, 68 per cent were determined (i.e. a decision was made 
by a judge) at a hearing or on the papers; 20 per cent were withdrawn; 
seven per cent were invalid or out of time, and four per cent were struck 
out. Struck out5 cases came into effect following the introduction of fee 
charging.  
Of the 18,246 cases that were determined between 1 January and 31 
March 2013: 
 
55 per cent were dismissed; 
                                            
5 Appeal closed administratively where the fee has not been paid, remitted or exempted. 
 
11

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
 
45 per cent were allowed. 
Social Security and Child Support (Tables 2.6 and 2.7) 
Of the 130,517 SSCS cases disposed of in January to March 2013; 63 per 
cent were for ESA; 16 per cent for Disability Living Allowance and ten per 
cent for JSA.  
The number of disposals for some benefit types have decreased between 
2011/12 and 2012/13. For example Incapacity Benefit has shown a 
decrease of 92 per cent as it is replaced by ESA. The number of disposals 
for ESA increased 31 per cent and those for Pension Credit by 29 per 
cent.  
Between January and March 2013, 80 per cent of all cases were cleared 
at a hearing, the same proportion as the previous year. Of these, 39 per 
cent were found to be a decision in favour. This means the original 
decision is revised in favour of the customer. 
This proportion varied by benefit type with 20 per cent of JSA cases, 41 
per cent of Disability Living Allowance and 43 per cent of ESA cases 
cleared at hearing having the original decision revised in favour of the 
customer. 
 
 
 
12

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
Tribunal Caseload Outstanding  
At 31 March 2013, the caseload outstanding was 897,822, an increase of 
19 per cent on the number at 31 March 2012. Note that annual figures are 
the same as the caseload outstanding at the end of the fourth quarter.  
Around two thirds (65 per cent) of the outstanding caseload at the end of 
the quarter related to 'multiple' claims in Employment Tribunals. Multiple 
claims are often legally and factually complex and it is common for action 
on such claims to be deferred (or ‘stayed’), for example pending the 
outcome of proceedings in appellate courts/tribunals on case management 
or other interim matters. This means that such claims are not yet ready to 
have a final Hearing in the employment tribunal, and so the claim cannot 
be progressed to disposal. 
Figure 7: Caseload outstanding at 31 March 2013 
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1,000
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
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Q1
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Q4
Q1
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Q1
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Q3
Q4
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
Caseload outstanding (thousands)
All tribunals
Social Security and Child 
Support
Employment
Immigration and Asylum
 
Caseload Outstanding (Table 3.1) 
Compared with 31 March 2012, the caseload outstanding increased 
overall and for a number of tribunals, specifically for: 
 
Social Security and Child Support (an increase of 41 per cent);  
 
Immigration and Asylum (an increase of 39 per cent);  
 
13

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
 
Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) (an increase of 29 
per cent. 
There were decreases in caseload outstanding for some tribunals: of 11 
per cent for single ET claims and of five per cent for Mental Health. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
Tribunal Timeliness  
This section provides information about the operation of courts and 
tribunals to assist users to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of 
public services. Impact indicators were suggested for the four largest 
tribunals – Social Security and Child Support, Employment Tribunals, 
Immigration and Asylum and Mental Health. 
The timeliness measures generally examine the process from receipt to 
the point at which the appellant is notified of the outcome of the hearing 
(or when they are notified of a settlement, withdrawal or strike out).  
When examining the measures, a number of points should be noted: 
 
The clearance times (expressed in weeks or years) are highly 
dependent upon the processes that take place within a Tribunal and 
the type and complexity of a case. In some cases, a judgement is 
awaited from another body (for example European Courts), stayed or 
may be legally complex. 
 
The measures can not be directly compared between one Tribunal and 
another because of the different processes and very diverse nature 
and requirements of individual jurisdictions. Thus, it is better to 
compare a specific Tribunal over time. Where available, information is 
given for two time periods – cases cleared in April 2012 to March of 
2013 and April 2011 to March of 2012. 
The information provided is based on the age (expressed in weeks or 
years) at which cases were cleared. There are differences by case or 
tribunal types, please see supplementary tables for more information.    
Summary of Timeliness Measures (Tables 4.1 – 4.3) 
The measures examine the age of a case when it is cleared or disposed of 
and gives the point at which 25 per cent, 50 per cent (the median), and 75 
per cent were cleared, along with the average. For example, in 
Immigration and Asylum, 75 per cent of cases that were cleared in 
2012/13 were aged 26 weeks or less. 
 
 
15

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
Table 1: Cumulative percentage of clearances that took place in April 
2012 to March 2013, by age of case at clearance 
Tribunal 
25 per cent 
point 
50 per cent 
point 
75 per cent 
point 
Average 
Immigration and 
Asylum (all) 
10 weeks 
17 weeks 
26 weeks 
20 weeks 
Employment (all) 
16 weeks 
31 weeks 
3 years 
80 weeks 
SSCS (all) 
8 weeks 
13 weeks 
23 weeks 
18 weeks 
 
Employment Tribunals  
For Employment Tribunals, the timescale recorded is from receipt to when 
details of the final judgement are given. The distribution for all ET cases is 
heavily influenced by the age of multiple cases (which can be stayed or 
await decisions from Higher Courts). Of those cases disposed of by 
Employment Tribunals in 2012/2013: 
 
25 per cent were aged 16 weeks or less (i.e. 25 per cent were cleared 
in 16 weeks or less); 
 
50 per cent (the median) were aged 31 weeks or less; 
 
75 per cent were aged three years; 
 
The average age of a case at disposal was 80 weeks. 
Clearances for Employment Tribunals were also examined by broad 
jurisdictional group. The results for the fourth quarter of 2012/13 showed 
that Equal Pay and Race or Sexual Discrimination had average of over 4 
years, while Working Time Regulations had the shortest average 
clearance time of 37 weeks. 
Immigration and Asylum 
For those cases disposed of in 2012/13, the cumulative percentages of 
cases are shown by the age of the case. The time is recorded from receipt 
to the time that a decision was notified to the appellant. 
Of those cases disposed of in Immigration and Asylum between April 2012 
and March 2013: 
 
25 per cent were aged ten weeks or less (i.e. 25 per cent were cleared 
in ten weeks or less); 
 
16

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
50 per cent (the median) were aged 17 weeks or less; 
 
75 per cent were aged 26 weeks or less; 
 
The average age of a case at disposal was 20 weeks, two weeks 
longer than 2011/12. 
Variations in clearance times between case types are due to different 
processing timescales which apply to each of the Immigration and Asylum 
jurisdictions. For example in the fourth quarter of 2012/13, three quarters 
of Asylum cases are completed by ten weeks, whereas a quarter of Family 
Visit Visas take longer than 31 weeks to clear.   
Social Security and Child Support 
For those cases disposed of in 2012/13, the cumulative percentage of 
cases is shown by the age of the case. For SSCS the time is recorded 
from receipt to the time that a decision was notified to the appellant. 
Of those cases disposed of by SSCS between April 2012 and March 2013: 
 
25 per cent were aged eight weeks or less (i.e. 25 per cent were 
cleared in 8 weeks or less); 
 
50 per cent (the median) were aged 13 weeks or less; 
 
75 per cent were aged 23 weeks or less; 
 
The average age of a case at disposal was 18 weeks, five weeks 
shorter than 2011/12. 
SSCS hears appeals against decisions made by DWP on a number of 
different benefits as well as against decisions made by other government 
departments (HMRC) and local authorities.  The composition of the 
Tribunal panel varies for each benefit and there are some differences in 
length of clearance time for each type of appeal.  Those appeals which 
can be heard by a Judge sitting alone (such as appeals against decisions 
on Job Seekers’ Allowance) take less time to clear than appeals where a 
panel including specialist Medical, Financial or Disability panel members is 
required.  
 
 
 
 
 
17

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
Tribunal Adjournments and Postponements by Jurisdiction  
Throughout the Tribunal process a case may be adjourned or postponed. 
Please note this information is not available for Employment, and only 
published on an annual basis for the other Tribunals. The Tribunals 
Service was created in April 2006, bringing together tribunals previously 
administered by the different government departments.  These individual 
tribunals brought with them their legacy systems, some of which are not 
set up to collate this data. 
 
An adjournment is where, on the day of the hearing, the Panel decides 
that, for whatever reason, the appeal/case cannot be finalised and has 
to put off making a final decision to another date, for example because 
further evidence is required. 
 
A postponement is where a case is taken out of the list, prior to the 
commencement of the hearing – parties to an appeal can apply to the 
to have the hearing postponed but it is the Tribunals decision as to 
whether such an application can be granted.  The Tribunal can also 
postpone a case on its own volition.   
The definition of the rate is the number of adjournments (or 
postponements) divided by the number of listed hearings and expressed 
as a percentage. 
In 2012/13 there were a total of 78,759 adjournments, an increase of 16 
per cent on the previous year. There were also 48,433 postponements, an 
increase of 14 per cent on the previous year.  
Adjournments and Postponements (Table 5.1) 
 
For SSCS cases in 2012/13, 15 per cent of listed cases were 
adjourned, and eight per cent were postponed, both a slight increase 
since 2011/12.  
 
For Immigration and Asylum, 12 per cent of listed hearings were 
adjourned, and nine per cent postponed, again a slight increase on 
2011/12. 
 
In 2012/13 the adjournment rate for Mental Health tribunals was seven 
per cent, and the postponement rate was 13 per cent, both the same 
as 2011/12.  
 
The adjournment rate for the Special Educational Needs and Disability 
(SEND) Tribunal stayed the same, at five per cent. However, the 
 
18

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
postponement rate for the Tribunal went down from 28 per cent to 24 
per cent over the same time period.  
Figure 8: Adjournments and postponements by jurisdiction, 2012/13 
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
First Tier Tribunal
(Immigration and
Asylum Chamber)
Social Security and
Child Support
Criminal Injuries
Compensation
Mental Health
Special Educational
Needs and Disability
Per cent of listed hearings
Adjourned
Postponed
 
 
19

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
Tribunal Judicial Salaried and Fee-paid sittings by 
Jurisdiction  
This section presents information on the number of sittings by Tribunal 
judges. Please note historic information on judicial sittings has been 
revised to show un-rounded figures. Sittings are divided into two 
categories;  
 
Salaried sittings relate to those days counted by Tribunal judges who 
are paid an annual salary for their work.  
 
Fee paid sittings relate to those sittings counted by Tribunal judges 
who are only paid for the days they work, and therefore charge a fee 
for their time. Judges are paid per sitting (half day/whole day) and not 
according to individual cases. 
In 2012/13 there were 235,871 sittings recorded across all Tribunals, 28 
per cent of these were classed as salaried days and the remaining 72 per 
cent as fee paying days. This has been the same proportion since 
2009/10, whereas before this date there was a higher proportion of 
salaried judges. 
Judicial Sittings (Tables 6.1 and 6.2) 
The 235,871 judicial sittings in 2012/13 is a six per cent increase on the 
number in the previous year. There was an increase of six per cent in the 
number of sittings for fee-paid judiciary and five per cent for salaried 
judiciary. 
The ratio of fee-paid to salaried judiciary varies by jurisdiction. In 2012/13, 
91 per cent of judicial sitting days for Mental Health were for fee-paid 
judiciary, whilst 63 per cent of judicial sittings were salaried for 
Employment Tribunals.  
The largest of judicial sittings for a single jurisdiction was for SSCS which 
accounted for 42 per cent of all judicial sittings recorded (see Figure 9). 
This reflects the fact that SSCS accounts for the largest proportion of 
Tribunal receipts. In the SSCS tribunals 85 per cent of the sittings were 
fee paid.  
 
20

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
Figure 9: Tribunal Judicial Salaried and Fee-paid sittings by 
Jurisdiction, 2012/13  
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
Immigration
and Asylum
Employment
Social
Security and
Child
Support
Mental
Health
Other
Number of judicial sittings
Salaried
Fee Paid
 
 
 
21

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
Annex A: Data quality and sources 
Information presented in this report is management information drawn 
from a number of different administrative sources. Although care is taken 
when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to 
inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system and it is the best 
data that is available at the time of publication. HMCTS is examining the 
quality of management information. Thus, it is possible that some revisions 
may be issued. 
The statistics are based on case management systems where a number of 
processes are recorded throughout the life of an appeal. In some 
instances, a case can re-enter the process or have a number of outcomes, 
meaning that there is not necessarily one receipt or one disposal per case. 
Thus, care should be taken when comparing receipts and disposals. 
Further information on HMCTS and other court statistics, including 
information on the data sources and terminology used in this report can be 
found in A Guide to Court and Administrative Justice Statistics.  
Revisions 
All the statistics in this publication have been revised to show unit values 
rather than the rounded numbers shown previously.  
Historic receipt and disposal information for Immigration and Asylum has 
been revised to include appeals dismissed or withdrawn at the Preliminary 
Issue stage.  This is where an appeal has been submitted outside the 
prescribed time limit or may be otherwise invalid.  Such cases will only 
proceed to the appeal stage if decided by a Judge.  A new disposal 
category of “Invalid/Out of Time” has been introduced to show appeals 
dismissed at the Preliminary Issue stage.  Cases withdrawn at this stage 
are included in the “Withdrawn” category. 
For 2012/13 a further new outcome category has been introduced for 
Immigration and Asylum disposals of “Struck Out for Non-Payment”. This 
is as a result of the introduction of fees for certain Immigration and Asylum 
appeals introduced in 2011. Some of the historic disposal and outcome 
data has been revised following this. 
Please note data from the fourth quarter of 2012/13 (1 January to 31 
March 2013) onwards un-rounded figures have been provided. All 
previously rounded figures have been revised with the original un-rounded 
data, except some of the historical judicial sitting days.  
 
22

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
Explanatory Notes 
Rounding 
The figures in this publication are presented to the nearest unit value.  
Notation 
The following symbols have been used throughout the tables in this 
bulletin:  
.    
= Not applicable 
..   
= Not available 
-  
= Small Value 
~ 
= No cases dealt with so rate could not be calculated 
0   
= Nil 
(r)  
= Revised data 
(p)  
= Provisional data 
 
Spreadsheet files of the tables contained in this document are also 
available to download.  
 
23

Tribunals Statistics Quarterly January to March 2013 
 
 
 
24
Contacts 
Press enquiries on the contents of this bulletin should be directed to the 
MoJ or HMCTS press offices: 
Scot Marchbank 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
Mark Kram 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice 
Statistics Analytical Services division of the MoJ: 
Mike Elkins 
Chief Statistician 
Ministry of Justice 
7th floor 
102 Petty France 
London 
SW1H 9AJ 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
General enquiries about the statistics work of the MoJ can be e-mailed to 
xxx@xxx.xx 
General information about the official statistics system of the UK is 
available from www.statistics.gov.uk