Judges warn that AI-generated claims for interim relief are clogging up the employment tribunals

Claimants have been using Artificial Intelligence to bring hundreds more claims for interim relief – and their often hopeless applications have worsened the delays in the employment tribunal system.  

The number of claims for interim relief has shot up from around 20 per year across the country, to about 20 per month in each regional office.

The huge increase in interim relief claims has had such a negative effect on the administration of justice that today (22 June 2026), the Presidents of the Employment Tribunals in England, Wales and Scotland have issued a strong warning about the difficulties of winning interim relief applications.

Interim relief is an unusual, emergency measure, and operates in a similar way to an injunction would in the civil courts. It prevents a dismissal from taking effect until the tribunal has heard the unfair dismissal claim.

It is available to claimants who allege that they have been dismissed for certain specific reasons – most commonly, because they say they have been dismissed for whistleblowing, or for carrying out certain trade union activities.

If they succeed in claiming interim relief, the tribunal may order them to be reinstated into their old job, re-engaged into a similar one, or the tribunal may make a continuation of contract order, which means they continue to receive full pay but do not have to attend work.

Given the possibility of that attractive outcome, there has been a recent spike in applications – which the Presidents believe is in part caused by AI.

Judge Barry Clarke, President of the Employment Tribunals in England and Wales, and Judge Susan Walker, President of the Employment Tribunals in Scotland, today jointly issued ‘Presidential Guidance on Applications for interim relief’, in response to two trends.

‘The first is a significant increase in applications for interim relief, largely in protected disclosure [whistleblowing] cases, and often indicating the use of artificial intelligence’, they said. ‘In previous years, across Great Britain, the Employment Tribunals would receive perhaps 20 such applications a year. Now most offices are receiving a similar number each month’.

The second trend is the ‘significant increase in the amount of documentation which accompanies such applications’. Interim relief applications are generally heard soon after they have been made, in a hearing that has a three-hour time limit, during which the Employment Judge must assess the documentation provided, hear submissions, and give a decision. Parties are bringing along large bundles of documents which the judges struggle to deal with in the short hearing.

Further, the Presidents warn, other tribunal hearings are being postponed to make way for the increased number of interim relief hearings, which must be heard soon after the application is received by the tribunal. There is already a large backlog of employment tribunal cases, with some now being listed in 2029 or even 2030, and the spike in interim relief hearings is making this situation even worse.

The Presidents remind applicants that the success rate for interim relief applications is low, because of the difficult test they face. Claimants must show that they have a ‘pretty good chance’ of proving at the final hearing that their dismissal was for the prohibited reason – the test for interim relief is thus higher than the ‘balance of probabilities’ test at the final hearing. A respondent employer who can present evidence that the claimant was dismissed for conduct or capability, for example, will likely succeed in resisting the application.

The Presidential Guidance sets out a short guide to making an application for interim relief, explains why such applications are hard to win, and gives ‘practical observations’ for potential applicants and respondents. It is not binding on Employment Tribunal judges, but they must have regard to it.

Presidential Guidance - Applications for interm relief

Catherine Urquhart is currently writing ‘A Practical Guide to Interim Relief in the Employment Tribunal’, to be published by Law Brief Publishing in Autumn 2026.

22nd Jun 2026

Catherine Urquhart

Call 2010