Disability Discrimination at Tribunal: What the Data Actually Shows
This guide covers England and Wales. It is general information, not legal advice, and is not a substitute for advice about your own situation. Laws and figures change - always check the current position on GOV.UK before relying on any detail here.
Disability discrimination is one of the most common - and highest-value - types of claim in the employment tribunal system. If you are considering a claim, the data is worth understanding, because disability discrimination behaves very differently from unfair dismissal: no minimum service, no cap on compensation, and an extra award for the distress caused. This guide sets out what the official figures show and what they mean for your own situation.
Data status - last updated 1 July 2026: Claim-volume figures are from the MoJ's Tribunals statistics quarterly: October to December 2025. Compensation figures are from the MoJ's most recently published Employment Tribunal award tables, which cover 2023/24 - 2024/25 award data had not yet been published at the time of writing. The Vento injury-to-feelings bands quoted are the addendum for claims presented on or after 6 April 2026. Check the linked sources for the latest release.
How disability discrimination claims are different
Most tribunal claims people have heard of - unfair dismissal, redundancy pay, notice - sit under the Employment Rights Act 1996 and come with limits: a qualifying period of service and a cap on compensation. Disability discrimination is different. It sits under the Equality Act 2010, which:
- needs no minimum service - you are protected from day one, and sometimes before employment even begins
- has no cap on compensation - awards track your actual loss, however large
- adds an award for injury to feelings on top of financial loss
Those three features are why disability claims sit higher in the award tables than unfair dismissal, and why they are often brought alongside an unfair dismissal claim rather than instead of one. The workplace discrimination guide explains the different forms discrimination can take, including failure to make reasonable adjustments, discrimination arising from disability, and direct and indirect discrimination.
How common are disability discrimination claims?
Disability discrimination is consistently the most frequently brought of the discrimination jurisdictions, ahead of race, sex and age. It has grown as a share of the caseload as awareness of the duty to make reasonable adjustments has risen.
Discrimination claims are also a major driver of the record open caseload. Because they are evidence-heavy and often involve medical evidence, they take longer to resolve than the average single claim - which matters when you are deciding whether to bring one.
What do disability discrimination awards look like?
In the most recently published award tables (2023/24):
- the median disability discrimination award was £17,218
- the highest recorded award was £964,465
Both figures are well above the equivalent unfair dismissal numbers (a median of £6,746). The reason is structural, not coincidental: there is no cap, and injury to feelings is added on top of financial loss.
Compensation in a disability discrimination claim is typically built from:
- Financial loss - lost earnings, lost pension, and other losses flowing from the discrimination, with no statutory cap
- Injury to feelings - a separate award for the distress, upset and humiliation caused
- Interest, and in some cases an uplift for an unreasonable failure to follow the Acas Code
- Occasionally aggravated or exemplary damages, and awards for personal injury such as a diagnosed psychiatric condition
The Vento bands: how injury to feelings is valued
Injury-to-feelings awards follow a framework called the Vento bands, updated each April. For claims presented on or after 6 April 2026:
- Lower band (one-off or less serious cases): up to around £12,600
- Middle band (cases that do not merit the upper band): £12,600 to £37,700
- Upper band (the most serious cases, such as a lengthy campaign of discrimination): £37,700 to £62,900
- Most exceptional cases: capable of exceeding £62,900
Which band applies turns on the seriousness and duration of the discrimination and its effect on you, not on your salary. This is why two people on very different pay can receive similar injury-to-feelings awards for similar treatment. The employment tribunal compensation guide covers how the bands interact with financial loss.
Why the range is so wide
The distance between the median (£17,218) and the maximum (£964,465) is enormous, and it reflects genuinely different cases. The very largest awards usually involve:
- career-ending loss - someone unable to return to comparable work, so future loss of earnings runs for years
- a diagnosed psychiatric injury attracting a personal-injury element
- upper-band injury to feelings for a sustained course of discrimination
Most claims are not like that. A single failure to make an adjustment, resolved reasonably quickly, sits far lower. As with unfair dismissal, the median is a better guide to a typical outcome than the maximum, and your own figures - your loss, the seriousness and length of the treatment - matter more than any national average.
What the data means for your claim
No cap and no qualifying period change the calculus. If your situation genuinely involves disability discrimination, the absence of a service requirement and a compensation cap can make it a materially stronger and higher-value route than unfair dismissal alone - which is why the two are often run together.
Evidence and medical proof do a lot of the work. Disability claims turn on showing you meet the definition of disability, that the employer knew or should have known, and what adjustments were or were not made. A documented history - occupational health reports, adjustment requests, the employer's responses - is central. See the reasonable adjustments guide for what that history should contain.
These claims are slower. The trade-off for the higher potential value is time and complexity. Many settle through Acas conciliation precisely because both sides want to avoid a long, contested hearing.
Key takeaway
The disability discrimination data shows a claim type that is both common and high-value: a median award more than double the unfair dismissal median, no cap, no qualifying period, and an extra award for injury to feelings measured by the Vento bands. But the wide range - from a few thousand pounds to close to a million - reflects genuinely different cases. What your own claim is worth depends on the seriousness and length of the treatment, your financial loss, and the strength of your evidence, not on the headline maximums.
_This article is legal information, not legal advice. Figures are drawn from official MoJ publications and judicial guidance and are updated periodically; check the linked sources for the most current data._
Sources used in this guide
- Equality Act 2010 - disability provisions
- MoJ: Employment Tribunal and EAT statistics tables 2023 to 2024
- MoJ: Tribunals statistics quarterly October to December 2025
- Presidential Guidance: Vento bands (injury to feelings)
Links to legislation.gov.uk, gov.uk, acas.org.uk and bills.parliament.uk are official sources. Always check the current version on the source site before relying on a specific point.
Frequently asked questions
How much compensation do you get for disability discrimination?
There is no cap on discrimination compensation, and it has two main parts: financial loss (mainly lost earnings) and injury to feelings. In the most recent published tables (2023/24), the median disability discrimination award was £17,218, well above the unfair dismissal median. Injury-to-feelings awards follow the Vento bands: for claims presented on or after 6 April 2026, roughly up to £12,600 (lower band), £12,600 to £37,700 (middle) and £37,700 to £62,900 (upper), with the most exceptional cases above that.
Do I need two years' service to claim disability discrimination?
No. Unlike ordinary unfair dismissal, discrimination claims under the Equality Act 2010 have no minimum length-of-service requirement and no cap on compensation. You are protected from your first day, and even before employment starts in some situations - for example, discriminatory recruitment. This is a major difference from unfair dismissal and is one reason disability claims are often higher value.
What counts as a disability under the Equality Act?
A disability is a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. 'Long-term' generally means it has lasted, or is likely to last, at least 12 months. Some conditions, such as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis, are treated as disabilities from the point of diagnosis. Whether you meet the definition is often the first thing a tribunal decides.
How is disability discrimination compensation calculated?
It has two main parts. First, financial loss - lost earnings, lost pension and other losses flowing from the discrimination, with no statutory cap. Second, injury to feelings, valued using the Vento bands: for claims presented on or after 6 April 2026, up to around £12,600 (lower band), £12,600 to £37,700 (middle) and £37,700 to £62,900 (upper), with exceptional cases above that. Interest is added, and an uplift of up to 25% can apply for an unreasonable failure to follow the Acas Code. Unlike unfair dismissal, there is no cap on the total.
How long do disability discrimination claims take?
Discrimination claims are typically among the longer and more complex cases in the tribunal system, often taking 12 to 24 months from lodging to a final hearing. They involve more detailed evidence, frequently including medical evidence and the reasonable-adjustments history. With the open caseload at a record high, complex discrimination claims are unlikely to move quickly.
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