72,000 Claims and Counting: Why Workplace Mediation Deserves a Second Look

The Employment Tribunal system in England and Wales is buckling. The latest figures put the backlog at 72,000 claims waiting to be heard, and that number is climbing rather than falling. Over the last twelve months alone, the backlog has grown by 26,000. Some regions are already listing final hearings for 2030.

For employees with genuine grievances, that means justice delayed to the point of being denied. For employers stuck defending claims they believe are unfounded, it means years of legal exposure, uncertainty, and cost. Neither side wins from a system this stretched.

Several factors are driving the pressure. Years of underfunding have left the system unable to absorb rising demand. Recent and upcoming employment law reforms are expected to push another 9,000 Acas early conciliation referrals into the system each year, roughly 3,000 of which will progress to a tribunal claim. On top of that, the growing use of AI by unrepresented Claimants is generating claims that lack credibility but still have to be assessed, which soaks up tribunal time that could be spent on cases with real merit.

None of this is going to fix itself in a hurry. Which raises an obvious question for employers: what can you do to keep disputes out of the tribunal system in the first place?

The Real Cost of Workplace Conflict

In November 2025, Acas published its findings on the prevalence of individual conflict in Great Britain. The headline number is striking: workplace conflict is costing British businesses £28.5 billion a year.

Dig into the detail and it gets more interesting. 44% of working-age adults reported experiencing workplace conflict in the previous twelve months, with “conflict” covering everything from isolated incidents to ongoing difficult relationships. Small and medium businesses saw slightly higher rates (46%) than large organisations (42%). The most common trigger, cited by 38% of respondents, was capability and performance issues.

The most telling statistic, though, is that 82% of workplace conflict happens between people inside the same organisation. Colleagues (39%), line managers or supervisors (32%), and direct reports (11%) account for the vast majority of the friction. And the human cost is significant: 57% of those affected reported stress, anxiety, or depression, and 49% experienced a drop in motivation.

Put simply, workplace conflict is hurting people, hurting productivity, and adding to a tribunal backlog that’s already at breaking point.

Where Workplace Mediation Fits In

Workplace mediation is a confidential, voluntary process where a neutral third party helps two or more people in dispute reach an outcome they can both live with. It isn’t about

deciding who’s right and who’s wrong. It’s a structured conversation that gets to the actual issue and finds a way forward.

Given that 82% of workplace conflict is internal, mediation is uniquely well suited to the problem. It resolves conflict early, before it hardens into a grievance, a resignation, or a legal claim. It’s faster than a formal grievance process, cheaper than a tribunal, and far less disruptive to the wider team. Most importantly, it preserves working relationships rather than blowing them up.

The catch is that workplace mediation is still too often treated as a last resort. By the time it gets brought in, employees have frequently been signed off sick for weeks, relationships have curdled beyond repair, and the space for a workable compromise has already closed.

Early Intervention Is the Whole Game

The advice worth giving employers is simple: bring mediation in far earlier than instinct suggests.

Most workplace conflict is fundamentally about communication and mutual understanding. Ideally, issues get resolved through informal conversation before they escalate. But when it’s clear that informal chats aren’t going to be enough, mediation should be the next step, not the last one.

Success rates are genuinely high when both parties engage in good faith. And even when full agreement isn’t reached, mediation often improves things enough for people to work together productively again. That’s the realistic bar to aim for. Working relationships don’t need to be perfect. They need to be workable.

There’s another reason mediation lands well: it gives the parties genuine ownership of the outcome. Grievance procedures, disciplinary processes, and tribunal claims all take the resolution out of the individuals’ hands and put it in the hands of someone else. That almost always produces a “loser”, and losers rarely walk away feeling the process was fair. Mediation flips that dynamic, and in doing so, it prevents the kind of unresolved resentment that later fuels tribunal claims.

Read the complete article here.