Generative AI tools are helping UK workers draft claims to Employment Tribunals, driving a sharp rise in the number and complexity of filings. With the tribunal system straining under the load, new guidance on interim relief applications was issued in June 2026.
December 2025 · UK Employment Tribunal
AI-Drafted Claims Are Clogging Up the Employment Tribunal
UK workers are turning to ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude to draft grievances and legal claims against employers — widening access to justice, but flooding an already overwhelmed system with lengthy, sometimes error-laden documents.
523k
Total tribunal backlog (single + multiple claims)
25wks
Average wait — roughly double the prior year
37wks
Complex cases; some scheduled into 2029
Single claims: the system is falling behind
Q3 2025/26, year-on-year change
+54%
13,000
New claims received
−34%
5,700
Claims disposed of
+49%
58,000
Open outstanding cases
More than twice as many claims arriving as leaving — while Acas early conciliation rose 40% between July 2023 and September 2025.
The upside
Free and low-cost AI tools let lower-income workers without lawyers draft grievances and ET1 claim forms themselves — widening access to justice for litigants in person.
The strain
Lengthy, lawyerly letters increase HR workload; hallucinated case law and factual errors disrupt proceedings; judges are pushing back, and false confidence drives poorly supported claims.
Generative AI lowers the barrier to specialised legal knowledge — but its lack of accuracy places new strain on judicial infrastructure. Balancing convenience against quality control is the system's next challenge.
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