New London tribunal centre to open as UK backlog tops 66,000 cases

A new London tribunal centre is due to start hearing cases from March, as government efforts ramp up to reduce delays across the courts and tribunal system. The venue is expected to become the UK’s largest dedicated tribunal centre, dealing with a broad range of matters including employment disputes, social security and child support.

New London tribunal centre targets 66,000+ backlog from March 2026

The announcement comes at a time when the outstanding tribunal caseload has risen beyond 66,000 cases, increasing pressure on an already stretched system and leaving many claimants and respondents facing lengthy waits for hearing dates.

A significant capacity increase

The central London site is designed to increase the volume of hearings that can take place each day. Plans indicate it will include 30 hearing rooms and 40 judicial chambers, with capacity to support up to 60 judges at any one time. The facility is also intended to be flexible, enabling different types of hearings to run in parallel.

The Ministry of Justice has positioned the centre as part of a wider modernisation programme for courts and tribunals across England and Wales, backed by £148.5 million of investment. Alongside improvements to buildings and technology, the programme includes ambitions to recruit up to 1,000 judges and tribunal members to help move cases through the system more quickly.

For employers and HR teams, the headline is clear: more physical space should mean more hearing slots over time, particularly for in-person employment tribunal hearings, which are expected to begin at the new site in early March.

The key question: will staffing keep pace?

While additional rooms and updated technology can help, many legal and HR observers continue to flag the same risk: capacity isn’t only about buildings, it’s about people.

Workforce shortages across the system (judges, panel members, clerks and administrative support) can limit how quickly hearings are listed and decisions are issued. In other words, a new centre can improve throughput, but the real-world impact will depend heavily on recruitment, training and retention within the tribunal service.

Why employment tribunal delays matter (for both sides)

Employment tribunal waiting times have become a persistent issue, and delays tend to increase cost, uncertainty and stress for everyone involved:

• For employees, a long wait can postpone resolution in cases involving unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing or unpaid wages often while finances and wellbeing are under pressure.
• For employers, protracted timelines can mean extended legal spend, management time diverted into litigation, and ongoing disruption (for example, where key witnesses leave, memories fade, or documents become harder to retrieve).

We’re also seeing demand driven by a mix of factors: shifting workplace expectations, increased awareness of rights, economic pressures, restructuring activity, and disputes arising from contractual changes and redundancy processes.

What HR teams should do now (practical steps)

Even if tribunal capacity improves, organisations should plan on the basis that cases may still take months to reach final resolution. The best risk-control measure remains prevention and early resolution.

The new London tribunal centre is a positive move towards increasing hearing capacity and modernising facilities. However, with the backlog at current levels, improvement is likely to be incremental rather than immediate, especially if staffing constraints persist.

For employers, the main takeaway is to assume ongoing delays remain possible and to strengthen internal HR practices accordingly. The more robust your processes and records are at the point decisions are made, the better positioned you are, whether the matter resolves early or proceeds to a full hearing.