Figures released in March 2009 by the Tribunals Service show that the total number of employment tribunal claims for 2007/08 was up by more than 40 per cent on the previous year. The increase was from 132,600 claims in 2006/07 to 189,300 in 2007/2008.

Many of these included claims under more than one jurisdiction - for example, unfair dismissal and sex discrimination - so that the absolute total was an increase from 238,546 in 2006/07 to 296,963 in 2007/2008.

For the first time (at any rate in recent years), Unfair Dismissal claims have not topped the list. Unfair dismissal was 3rd by number of claims in 2007/2008. There were approximately 41,000 such claims (which give or take a bit is the around the normal number).

The regular increase in the number of equal pay claims each year continued. Equal Pay now tops the list. There were 62,706 equal pay claims in 2007/2008. The number of such claims has risen year by year since 2003/04 from 4,412 to 8,229, to 17, 268, to 44,013 and to 62,706 in 2007/2008.

The other main change over the last five years is in the number of Working Time related claims. Working Time related claims came second in the list in 2007/2008 when there were 55,712 such claims. The number of Working Time related claims has varied widely up and down since 2003/04 from 16,869 to 3,223 to 35,474, to 21,127 and to 55,712 in 2007/2008.

See also notes at Employment tribunals/annual report/past (2007) and/or ACAS/annual report/2007-2008