89563Reduce employment tribunal backlog with data tools for lawyersClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKCOVID-19 has devastated the UK employment market. As of August 2020, [106,319 people have lost their jobs as a direct or indirect result of the pandemic][0], and unfortunately the cuts have not always been fairly distributed. TUC found that [one in four pregnant women and new mums][1] have experienced unfair treatment or discrimination at work during the pandemic, including being singled out for redundancy or furlough. Another survey found that a staggering [58% of BAME employees][2] have had their work affected by the pandemic, compared to 47% of white employees. Unfortunately, there is little support available for workers who want to understand or use their legal rights. [ACAS has reported][3] that calls to its redundancy line tripled across June and July 2020\. With a lack of funding alongside this surge, [Parliament has heard][4] that "the entire not-for-profit legal advice and rights sector is at risk \[of collapse\] right now" When an employee tries to make a tribunal claim, they now face a huge barrier: the backlog of employment claims has risen by 50% during COVID to [40,000 cases][5], forcing employees to wait 12 to 24 months to get even an initial hearing in court. The worst is yet to come: with a potential [4 million job cuts][6] looming and the current systems buckling already, there is a rapidly growing emergency of access to basic legal rights for millions of UK employees. Our project directly addresses this growing emergency - our innovative technology scans tens of thousands of employment tribunal cases, using AI to extract critical award and legal data, then provides both a data platform and decision analytics tools for the legal market to use. This product will save significant time per case, reduce unconscious bias in the settlement process, and will open up an unprecedented new opportunity to provide high-quality, low cost legal advice tools for the [32.9m Britons in work][7]. [0]: https://www.cityam.com/hollowed-out-which-uk-companies-have-made-job-cuts-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/ [1]: https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/pregnant-and-precarious-new-and-expectant-mums-experiences-work-during [2]: https://www.turn2us.org.uk/About-Us/Media-Centre/Press-releases-and-comments/BAME-workers-take-biggest-financial-hit-from-coron [3]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53644103 [4]: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/1681/documents/16439/default/ [5]: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/consultation-responses/beis-proposals-to-better-equip-the-employment-tribunal-for-current-and-future-challenges [6]: https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/citizens-advice-taking-redundancy-calls-22321114 [7]: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/employmentintheuk/january2020