HC Deb 30 June 1992 vol 210 cc530-3W
Mr. Janner

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many complaints were made to industrial tribunals in each of the last five years for which records are available; how many and what percentage involved(a) unfair dismissal, (b) redundancy rights, (c) maternity rights, (d) equal pay, (e) sex discrimination, (f) race discrimination, (g) trade union discrimination or (h) other matters; how many and what percentage of such claims were settled before the hearing; how many and what percentage reached a hearing; and how many and what percentage were successful.

Mr. McLoughlin

The tables set out information available on cases dealt with for the five years up to end of 31 March 1991. The first table shows all applications dealt with within each jurisdiction, and the following tables give a breakdown of the outcomes of each jurisdiction.

Breakdown of jurisdictions dealt with
1990–91 1989–90 1988–89 1987–88 1986–87
Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Number Per cent.
Unfair dismissal 19,183 53.6 17,714 55.6 17,435 59.5 20,673 60.4 27,787 70.5
Redundancy rights 5,262 14.7 4,049 12.7 3,375 11.5 3,594 10.5 5,906 15.0
Maternity rights 48 0.1 44 0.1 96 0.3 137 0.4 223 0.6
Equal pay 508 1.4 397 1.2 813 2.8 1,043 3.1 517 1.3
Sex discrimination 1,078 3.0 1,046 3.3 935 3.2 691 2.0 612 1.6
Race discrimination 926 2.6 939 2.9 839 2.9 709 2.0 672 1.7
Trade union discrimination1 324 0.9 340 1.1 343 1.2 4,128 12.1 1,436 3.6
Trade union discrimination2 128 0.3 237 0.7 133 0.4 390 1.1 111 0.3
Other 8,369 23.4 7,147 22.4 5,348 18.2 2,868 8.4 2,140 5.4
TOTAL 35,826 — 31,913 — 29,317 — 34,233 — 39,404 —

Outcomes by jurisdiction (percentages are of totals shown in the first table)
(a) Unfair Dismissal
Settled Percentage Reached full hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1990–91 12,011 (62.6) 4,966 (25.9) 2,173 (11.3)
1989–90 11,771 (66.4) 5,700 (32.2) 2,183 (12.3)
1988–89 11,519 (66.0) 5,655 (32.4) 2,137 (12.3)
1987–88 13,279 (64.2) 7,142 (29.4) 2,345 (11.3)
1986–87 18,134 (65.3) 9,011 (32.4) 3,051 (11.0)

(b) Redundancy Rights
Settled Percentage Reached full hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1990–91 3,200 1(60.8) 1,966 (37.4) 1,334 (25.3)
1989–90 2,423 (59.8) 1,520 (37.5) 1,017 (25.1)
1988–89 1,846 (54.7) 1,461 (43.3) 948 (28.0)
1987–88 1,731 (48.2) 1,805 (50.2) 1,245 (34.6)
1986–87 3,341 (56.6) 2,441 (41.3) 1,724 (29.2)
1 ACAS does not conciliate in redundancy pay issues.

(c) Maternity Rights
Settled Percentage Reachedfull hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1990–91 36 (75.0) 12 (25.0) 5 (10.4)
1989–90 34 (77.0) 10 (22.7) 5 (11.4)
1988–89 64 (66.7) 28 (30.4) 12 (13.0)
1987–88 99 (72.3) 33 (24.1) 18 (13.1)
1986–87 163 (73.1) 60 (26.9) 32 (14.3)

(d) Equal Pay
Settled Percentage Reachedfull hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1990–91 310 (61.0) 35 (6.9) 10 (1.7)
1989–90 274 (69.0) 55 (13.8) 33 (8.3)
1988–89 445 (54.7) 63 (7.7) 47 (5.8)
1987–88 839 (80.4) 24 (2.3) 7 (0.7)
1986–87 353 (68.3) 161 (31.1) 44 (8.5)

(e) Sex Discrimination
Settled Percentage Reachedfull hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1990–91 759 (70.4) 298 (27.6) 78 (7.2)
1989–90 754. (72.1) 280 (26.8) 86 (8.2)
1988–89 635 (67.9) 250 (26.7) 78 (8.3)
1987–88 468 (67.7) 208 (30.1) 46 (6.6)
1986–87 398 (65.0) 201 (32.8) 48 (7.8)

(f) Race Discrimination
Settled Percentage Reachedfull hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1990–91 556 (60.0) 316 (34.1) 47 (5.0)
1989–90 554 (59.0) 336 (35.8) 61 (6.5)
1988–89 478 (57.0) 324 (38.6) 54 (6.4)

Settled Percentage Reached full hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1987–88 398 (56.1) 265 (37.4) 61 (8.6)
1986–87 351 (52.2) 296 (44.0) 40 (5.9)

(g) Trade Union Discrimination (1): Dismissals
Settled Percentage Reached full hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1990–91 225 (69.4) 97 (30.0) 29 (8.9)
1989–90 181 (53.2) 154 (45.3) 88 (25.9)
1988–89 235 (68.5) 103 (30.0) 17 (4.9)
1987–88 3,966 (96.1) 157 (3.8) 35 (0.8)
1986–87 1,065 (74.2) 233 (16.2) 53 (3.7)

(h) Trade Union Discrimination (2): Action short of dismissal
Settled Percentage Reachedfull hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1990–91 59 (46.1) 52 (40.6) 37 (28.9)
1989–90 129 (54.4) 106 (44.7) 49 (20.7)
1988–89 116 (87.2) 16 (12.0) 3 (2.3)
1987–88 374 (95.9) 16 (4.1) 5 (1.3)
1986–87 63 (56.8) 47 (42.3) 5 (4.5)

(i) Other matters
Settled Percentage Reachedfull hearing Percentage Successful at hearing Percentage
1990–91 4,911 (58.7) 7,147 (30.9) 1,433 (17.1)
1989–90 4,894 (68.5) 2,027 (28.4) 1,035 (14.5)
1988–89 4,089 (76.5) 1,031 (19.3) 566 (10.6)
1987–88 1,960 (68.3) 812 (28.3) 294 (10.2)
1986–87 1,515 (70.8) 623 (29.1) 294 (13.7)

Key:

UD—Unfair dismissal—excludes dismissals on grounds of pregnancy, trade union membership or activities, or non-membership.

Red—Redundancy rights—includes claims for redundancy payments and redundancy provisions of Employment Protection Act 1975.

Mat—Maternity rights—includes maternity pay, dismissal on grounds of pregnancy and refusal of right to return to work after maternity absence, but excludes time off for ante-natal care

EqP—Equal Pay.

SD—Sex discrimination.

RD—Race discrimination.

TU(1)—Trade union discrimination: dismissals on grounds of trade union membership or activities, or non-membership.

TU(2)—Trade union discrimination: action short of dismissal—excludes time off for trade union duties and activities.