Employers win 68%+ of tribunal cost awards as claims surge 234%

Last year saw a record breaking 9,100 employment tribunal claims, marking a staggering 234% increase on the year prior. And as these claims rise, so does the question of how many result in claimants receiving cost awards – when a tribunal orders an employer to pay out to the employee, for example, or vice versa. 

For businesses, facing a tribunal claim can be daunting. But fresh data from the experts at LegalVision, analysing both cost awards and claim volumes across over two million tribunal claims from the Ministry of Justice (2007-2024/17 years of data), reveal reassuring trends.

Study highlights:

• The average cost award now stands at £4,313, up 210% since 2007/08
• The average maximum cost award has grown fivefold – from £35,915 across the first five years of the study to £197,504 across the most recent five
• This is despite cost awards falling by 58% in volume between 2007/08 and 2023/24
• When they are given, they mostly favour employers, who receive 68% of the awards
• The introduction of tribunal fees briefly pushed the cost award rate to 1.42% in 2014/15, nearly four times the long-run average

Average cost award by financial year & breakdown

Financial Year	Average Award	% Change in award cost (Y.O.Y)	No. Awards to Claimant	No. Awards to Respondent	Total Awards
2007/08	£2,095		134	327	461
2008/09	£2,665	0.2721	110	272	382
2009/10	£2,288	-14.15%	88	323	411
2010/11	£2,830	0.2369	132	355	487
2011/12	£1,292	-54.35%	116	1,294	1,410
2012/13	£3,141	1.4311	129	522	651
2013/14	£2,856	-9.07%	242	647	889
2014/15	£3,228	0.1303	536	334	870
2015/16	£3,386	0.0489	393	265	658
2016/17	£3,747	0.1066	297	182	479
2017/18	£4,707	0.2562	169	310	479
2018/19	£6,729	0.4296	51	158	209
2019/20	£5,664	-15.83%	47	130	177
2020/21	£6,009	0.0609	26	85	111
2021/22	£8,818	0.4675	50	134	184
2022/23	£7,374	-16.38%	45	150	195
2023/24	£6,492	-11.96%	39	153	192

The full dataset is available here.

Key findings

For employers facing tribunal claims, the main finding is clear: the cost of defending against dubious or unreasonably pursued claims has risen, but so too has the financial recovery possible when costs are rewarded. 

Cost awards have grown significantly in value over the past 17 years. The median cost award has tripled from £1,000 in 2007/08 to £3,000 in 2023/24, and the average has seen a similar increase from £2,095 to £6,492 over the same period. To put that growth in context, the average maximum award in the first five years of the study was £35,915. In the most recent five years, that figure stood at £197,504, more than five times higher.

Over two-thirds of cost awards go to employers. When it comes to cost awards at employment tribunals, the data tells an encouraging story for employers. Of the 8,245 awards made between 2007/08 and 2023/24, 68% were granted to employers. In total, 5,641 awards went to employers and 2,604 to claimants, suggesting that when unreasonable conduct is identified, tribunals find against claimants in the great majority of cases. 

Cost awards are rare overall. Across 2,205,913 claims lodged over the 17-year period, just 0.37% resulted in a cost award, the equivalent of around 1 in every 267 cases. This suggests tribunals reserve cost awards for genuinely unreasonable conduct rather than applying them routinely, giving well-prepared employers confidence that a properly conducted defence is unlikely to result in a cost award being made against them.

Cost awards by size (2007 – 2024)

Cost Award	Total Awards	% of All Awards
Under £200	1,674	20.30%
£201–£400	848	10.29%
£401–£600	712	8.64%
£601–£800	315	3.82%
£801–£1,000	629	7.63%
£1,001–£2,000	1,208	14.65%
£2,001–£4,000	993	12.04%
£4,001–£6,000	528	6.40%
£6,001–£8,000	304	3.69%
£8,001–£10,000	439	5.32%
£10,000+	595	7.22%
Total	8,245

The impact of tribunal fees

The introduction of tribunal fees in 2013 had a dramatic effect on claim volumes, with cases falling from 236,103 in 2009/10 to just 61,308 in 2014/15, a drop of almost 75%. However, cost awards did not fall at the same rate, which briefly pushed the proportion of claims resulting in a cost award to 1.42% in 2014/15, nearly four times the long-run average of 0.37%. Following the Supreme Court’s abolition of tribunal fees in 2017, claim volumes recovered and the cost award rate returned to its historical norm.

What this means in practice

For employers facing tribunal claims, the data offers three clear takeaways:

1. Employers should not assume they have no cost recovery options in tribunal proceedings. The data shows that businesses win more than two thirds of all cost awards made, and the average value of those awards has risen by 210% since 2007/08. Cost of recovery is a real, and increasingly valued option for employers pursuing it. 
2. Businesses should document unreasonable conduct throughout proceedings. The foundation of a successful cost application is a clear record of unreasonable behaviour, whether that is pursuing a claim with no reasonable prospect of success, rejecting a reasonable settlement offer, or failing to comply with tribunal orders. 
3. Seek legal advice early. Identifying the conduct most likely to support a cost application takes expertise. Early legal advice helps employers build the strongest possible case for cost recovery from the outset, rather than trying to reconstruct events later.