When your case is scheduled for hearing by the employment tribunal, you will be required to tell the tribunal how many witnesses you intend to call and how long you think the hearing will last. If there are any dates you would find hard to make (e.g. due to having booked a holiday) you should notify the tribunal early on. It is important to think about this carefully because it is likely to be very difficult to change arrangements, e.g. the length of a hearing, once it has been set and listed in the tribunal calendar.
The amount of time it will take to hear your case will largely depend on how many days need to be set aside to hear it.
In normal times, the tribunal aims to hear most cases within about six months of the ET1 being lodged. However, there is a very significant backlog in unresolved claims, because not enough resources have been made available to the tribunal system to meet the demands placed upon it.
The coronavirus pandemic has made an already difficult situation worse, by adding to this backlog and resulting delay. However, the pandemic has also spurred on the digitisation of the tribunal system, with most hearings taking place remotely during this period.
