The number of workers in Great Britain taking their bosses to employment tribunals over remote working fell last year for the first time since Covid hit, with a tightening labour market making some more reluctant to leave roles despite return-to-office mandates.
There were 54 employment tribunals decided in England, Scotland and Wales in 2025 that cited remote working, according to an analysis of records by the HR consultants Hamilton Nash: down 13% compared with 2024.
It was the first time the total has fallen in six years, bringing an end to a period during which the number of complaints reaching a hearing rose tenfold from the pre-pandemic level in 2019.
Only six cases related to remote working reached tribunal that year, but this hit a peak of 62 cases in 2024.
The shake-up of the world of work triggered by Covid changed many office-based jobs for good. More than a quarter (28%) of working adults in Great Britain now work in a hybrid fashion, splitting their time between the office and another location such as home, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
However, many employers have sought to clamp down on home working in recent years, in some cases leading to considerable resistance within the workforce. Large employers in the financial sector, including the investment banks Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase , have led the way on bringing staff back to the office, with some requiring attendance five days a week.
Employment lawyers and consultants suggested last year’s unexpected decrease in remote working tribunals could be attributed to a number of factors.
In particular, the rising unemployment rate, which climbed to a near five-year high of 5.2% in the final quarter of 2025, and falling job vacancies indicate the balance of power is swinging back in favour of employers.
This may have prompted some workers to keep their heads down rather than risk a battle over the right to work remotely, while others may have already changed jobs if they did not agree with their employers’ return-to-office mandates.
There was a “period of turbulence” after pandemic restrictions eased, said Jim Moore, an employee relations expert at Hamilton Nash. “Top talent did vote with their feet for a while, but that has changed because of wider issues in the labour market and people saying: ‘I am going to stay put and keep my head down.’”
The introduction of the right to request flexible working from day one of a new job, which came into force in April 2024 as part of the amended Employment Relations Act may also have resulted in more employees seeking to resolve disputes within their organisations rather than through tribunals.
The number of employment disputes that reach tribunal is “the tip of the iceberg”, according to Moore: “There is a huge amount of conflict within business that nobody ever hears about on the outside, because it never gets to the tribunal.”
Some bosses have also become emboldened, according to lawyers, after an employment tribunal in 2024 rejected the case of a senior manager who sued the Financial Conduct Authority because she wanted to work at home full-time.
The outcome of the case against the City watchdog may have “given some encouragement to employers” said Padma Tadi-Booth, a partner in the employment team at the law firm Hill Dickinson. “They may feel a bit more empowered with these sorts of judgments to push some of the rationale as to why they want people back in the office, whether for supervision or because of quality of work.”
As a result, some companies are planning to increase their office attendance requirements, Tadi-Booth added, whether asking staff to come in three times a week instead of twice, or for a certain percentage of their working hours.
If employees are reluctant to give up more remote working, a further increase in tribunal cases could be yet to come. Those pursuing a case, however, can expect to wait a long time for it to be heard. The backlog of open employment tribunals passed 500,000 last year, and workers who have already submitted claims may have to wait three years before these are heard.
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