Employment judges in England, Wales and Scotland have been told to tighten the rules on interim relief after a surge in applications, many linked to the growing use of AI by people bringing claims. The new guidance, issued by Judge Barry Clarke and his Scottish counterpart, takes effect immediately and makes clear the threshold for winning such applications remains high.
What interim relief is and why it matters
Interim relief was once a rarely used emergency measure for people who had been dismissed. Applications across Britain have gone from about 20 a year to roughly 20 a month. Most of that increase comes from protected disclosure cases, which are claims related to whistleblowing. The judiciary has noted a parallel rise in the volume of paperwork attached to these applications, putting extra strain on a tribunal system already dealing with a large backlog of cases.
Judges say the success rate is low and the disruption is high
Judge Clarke said the tribunal aims to list interim relief applications quickly because of their emergency nature. “To make way for them, other hearings are often postponed or delayed,” he said. The success rate for interim relief remains low, so the trend hurts other court users and the overall administration of justice. Interim relief applications must be made within seven days of the effective date of dismissal. If granted, the tribunal can order the employer to reinstate or re-engage the claimant, or issue a continuation of contract order that keeps them on full pay. Most applications do not succeed.
The guidance now caps hearing time at three hours. That includes one hour for the judge to read materials and 30 minutes for each side to make oral submissions. If parties provide too many documents, the judge will tell them to pick out only the most important ones.
Claimants must show more than a bare allegation
To succeed with a protected disclosure case at the interim stage, claimants must go beyond a simple accusation. They need to show a “pretty good chance” the tribunal will find that the disclosure caused the dismissal. The guidance adds that the more hurdles a claimant faces to win the full claim, the harder it will be to get interim relief. For example, a dispute about employment status or whether a resignation counts as dismissal makes it even less likely relief will be granted.
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This attempt to rein in the number of applications comes as the backlog continues to grow. At the end of March this year, 64,000 single cases were open, up from 45,000 in March 2025. The Law Society called the numbers alarming and urged the government to act, especially with new cases expected under the Employment Rights Act.
One person familiar with tribunal operations, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the guidance is a necessary response but questioned whether three hours was enough for complex cases. “The judge might just be skimming the surface,” they said.
The surge in applications has been linked to litigants using AI tools to draft claims. That may explain why the paperwork volume has grown so quickly — AI can produce long documents in minutes. But the guidance suggests judges want substance, not volume.
Employment lawyers said the message is clear: interim relief is not a routine option. It remains a high-stakes, fast-moving process for a narrow set of cases. The new rules are designed to protect that function without slowing down everyone else. For more on legal processes, you can explore your medical negligence legal rights or read about judges facing action over court delays.
