Employment tribunal statistics 2010/11: average age discrimination award three times higher than last year

The Ministry of Justice has published its report on employment tribunal and EAT statistics for the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011, including details of compensation awards for successful unfair dismissal and discrimination claims. 

The average award for a successful age discrimination claim is £30,289 - triple last year's average, and more than twice the next highest average discrimination award (for disability discrimination).  

The highest award in a discrimination claim was £289,167 (sex discrimination), followed by £181,083 for disability discrimination. The average award for religion or belief discrimination claims - which always attract the media spotlight - nearly doubled, to £8,515. 

The report confirms a 32% rise in accepted claims for age discrimination, but an 8% fall in overall claims received by tribunals, figures that were previously reported in the annual tribunals statistics for 2010/11. 

Out of the 10,300 unfair dismissal cases that proceeded to a hearing, only eight resulted in orders for reinstatement or re-engagement - two more than last year. Fewer claimants were represented by lawyers or trade union representatives than in 2009/10, but more had other types of representatives to assist them. 

Also

Annual tribunals statistics, 2010/11 (PDF format, 252K) Read the full report on the Ministry of Justice website. 

The XpertHR quick reference section provides the key statistics from this year's reports: