HR Newsletter 176: Vento Guidelines and Employment Tribunal Statistics Update

The President of the Employment Tribunals has issued the annual update to the Vento guidelines, setting out the bands of awards for injury to feelings, payable in cases of discrimination at work, adjusted for inflation.

These updated figures, known as the Vento bands,  apply in respect of claims presented on or after 6 April 2026 and are:

• lower band: £1,300 to £12,600 (less serious cases)

• middle band: £12,600 to £37,700

• upper band: £37,700 to £62,900 (the most serious cases)

Awards in the most exceptional cases may exceed £62,900.

The lower band applies to ‘less serious cases’ where the act of discrimination is a one-off or isolated occurrence. The middle band applies to cases that do not merit an award within the higher band. The higher band applies to the most serious cases, for example, where there has been a lengthy campaign of discrimination and/or harassment.

Employment Tribunals have great flexibility to fix the compensation at what is fair and just in each case. They will consider all the evidence, including the Claimant’s evidence about the impact of the discrimination on them, before deciding an appropriate award.

While the Tribunal will assess the award of damages for injury to feelings in an objective way, the perception and the individual reaction of the claimant will be an important factor for the court to consider. The more upsetting the conduct is to the individual, the more seriously the discrimination is likely to be viewed, and the higher the award for injury to feelings. Where a one-off act of discrimination is particularly humiliating or serious, and the victim suffers serious consequences as a result, an award in the higher bands could be justified. A Tribunal would require quite detailed evidence about the seriousness, before it would be prepared to award a high figure.

Claimants sometimes have unrealistic ideas about how much money they will be awarded.  Cases that make the news are there precisely because they are so unusual. A Tribunal will take a measured and methodical approach when they assess how much to award, but it is hardly a science. There is little in the way of hard evidence about what is normal, but we believe that most awards fall into the lower category.

Employment Tribunal Statistics

For Employment Tribunal single cases (i.e. brought by a sole individual, be they employee or worker, against one employer) in Q3 2025, the Employment Tribunal received 13,000 single claim receipts and disposed of 5,700 single claim cases. There were 58,000 single claim cases in the open caseload at the end of December 2025.

For Employment Tribunal lead multiple cases (i.e. batches of claims brought by two or more people against the same employer, or employers, which are based on the same or very similar sets of facts), there were 590 lead multiple cases received, and 340 cases disposed of in Q3 2025. The number of open lead cases stood at 7,400 at the end of December 2025. These lead multiples cover 9,500 multiple claim receipts, 2,600 disposals, and an open caseload of 466,000 multiple claims at the end of December 2025.  Multiple claims can represent many individual cases linked to a single employer, which is why their volumes can change sharply from quarter to quarter.

Employment Tribunal claims in the UK are currently taking significantly longer to be heard due to a massive backlog, with many cases taking between 12 to over 18 months to reach a final hearing. While simple cases might be heard within 6 to 12 months, complex cases involving discrimination or multiple days, can exceed 2 years. There are also regional variations in how long it is taking, depending on the specific Tribunal Office handling the case.

ACAS report that they dealt with over 117,951 early conciliation cases in 2024/2025, marking a significant rise in demand, with thousands more processed throughout the year. Most cases do not progress to a Tribunal, with roughly 68-69% of notifications resulting in no further action, or a settlement, reducing the need for full litigation. 

Clients are welcome to raise any concerns with our Consultant team, who would be pleased to advise you on any element of the issues arising from this newsletter.