Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of employers using ordinary unfair dismissals ahead of the extension of unfair dismissal rights on 1 January 2027.

The Government does not collect data on the level of ordinary unfair dismissals made by employers. The Government does publish data on the number of unfair dismissal claims awarded compensation at Employment Tribunal:

• 2020/21: 421
• 2021/22: 633
• 2022/23: 787
• 2023/24: 646

Tribunals statistics quarterly: April to June 2024 - GOV.UK

Note that from September 2022, the Employment Tribunal has moved to a new case management system (Reform ECM). Cases in the new system are not included in these statistics.