Whilst the official figures are not released until December 2013, the Ministry of Justice has published provisional figures for employment tribunal claims received for the key period in the run up to and following the introduction of fees in July 2013.

There was no significant change in the number of claims received of around 40,000  for July to September 2013. In the period from January 2013 to May 2013, this averaged at 17,000 receipts a month. June 2013 rose to 25,000 presumably as people started to get ahead of the fees and levelled out for July 2013 at 17,000. August 2013 saw a dip to 7,000 but this rose to 14,000 again in September 2013.

However, those that applied for remission of fees are unlikely to be included as they are only included in the stats once the fee is paid or remission granted. These stats are therefore likely to be revised upwards in December 2013. There could be a couple of explanations for the August numbers firstly, anyone with a limitation period in August would have more likely than not issued prior to 29th July 2013 to avoid the fee and secondly it was the summer period which in employment law terms in normally quieter. It is of interest that September is only marginally down and may even be closer to 17,000 once the remission applications are decided.

So watch this space for the revised stats and the next few months data.