The number of cases taken to the Employment Tribunal Service (ETS) rose 17% over the past year, official figures revealed.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the ETS dealt with 115,042 cases during the year, up from 98,617 in the previous year.
The majority of applications were registered for either unfair dismissal or unauthorised deduction of wages.
Sex discrimination cases increased by 76%, up from 8,128 to 14,284. The DTI said this was mainly due to over 7,000 applications relating to a Jobcentre Plus dress code case.
In total, 37% of cases were settled through Acas, 14% were successful at tribunal, 10% were unsuccessful at tribunal, and 8% were ‘disposed of otherwise'.
A third of cases registered with the ETS were withdrawn.
The Minister responsible for Employment Relations, Gerry Sutcliffe, said: “I congratulate the ETS and the tribunal judiciary on their performance last year.
“As this report highlights, the vast majority of cases the ETS received were brought to a hearing quickly.
“The commitment of the ETS and the judiciary to delivering a high quality service is evident from the 97.5% level of satisfaction among tribunal users, one of the service's key target areas.”
In 2003-04 the ETS met all its key targets except the administrative unit costs target, said the DTI. In addition, overall performance on the time-to-first hearing benchmark exceeded the target by 6%.
