Employment Tribunals & Costs

What you need to know about employment tribunals and our associated costs.

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Employment Tribunals & Costs

Our specialist employment lawyers advise clients on a wide range of employment-related matters, including disputes taken to employment tribunals.

Employment tribunals make decisions on legal actions brought against an employer or potential employer on the grounds of unlawful treatment, such as discrimination and/or a breach of employment rights.

Whether you are the claimant or respondent, we can provide clear, expert legal advice to support you throughout the tribunal process.

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Our costs

Unless otherwise agreed, our services will be provided to you on the basis of our hourly-rate charges. You will be charged for all our time spent dealing with the matter on your behalf, including travelling. The below scenario provides an example of our cost ranges.

Our cost ranges for bringing or defending a claim on the grounds of unfair or wrongful dismissal are:

  • Simple complexity case (Excluding VAT and disbursements) £5,000 to £10,000
  • Medium complexity case (Excluding VAT and disbursements) £10,001 to £25,000 
  • High complexity case (Excluding VAT and disbursements) £25,001 to £75,000+

Our Hourly Rates:

  • Senior Solicitor: £300 per hour (excluding VAT)

We are here to support you

We can also support you, as an employer, to defend against claims. Our costs ranges for these services are the same as those above.

The above costs are based on the services you are likely to require for each complexity level and our solicitors’ hourly rates (as well as those of their supervisor). This information is also based on certain assumptions. For example, these costs assume that third parties complete and return required documentation within agreed time frames/deadlines.

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Factors that could make your case more complex include:

 If it is necessary to make or defend applications, amend claims or provide further information about an existing claim

Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person

Making or defending a costs application

Complex preliminary issues such any disabilities that need to be taken into account (if this is not agreed by the parties)

The number of witnesses and documents

If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if you are dismissed after whistle-blowing on your employer

Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal

Disbursements & Expenses

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We might need to incur certain expenses and make certain payments on your behalf from time to time, e.g. travel expenses, courier charges, bank transfer charges, photocopying at a commercial rate, postage, and overseas telephone calls.

Disbursements include Counsel’s fees. These are likely to cost an estimate of £6,000 (based on a two-day hearing). However, Counsel fees could be more or less than this depending on the complexity of your case and the experience of the barrister. Counsel’s fees cover the barrister’s advice and attendance at the Tribunal (including preparation).

Our attendance at the Tribunal hearing/s, will be charged at our solicitor’s hourly rate. For example, say your solicitor attends a two day hearing for your case, the associated legal fees will be £4,000 (£250 hourly rate x 8, per day). However, we do not usually attend tribunal hearings in addition to the barrister.

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Key Stages

The fees set out above cover all of our work regarding the key stages of a claim, listed below:

  • Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers
  • Advising you on the merits and likely compensation (this may be subject to change as the matter progresses)
  • Entering into pre-claim conciliation (‘early conciliation’) to explore whether a settlement can be reached
  • Preparing a claim or response
  • Reviewing and advising on the claim or response from the other party
  • Exploring settlement options and negotiating settlement throughout the process
  • Preparing or considering a schedule of loss
  • Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
  • Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
  • Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
  • Preparing the required bundle of documents
  • Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements
  • Agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
  • Preparation for hearings as well as attendance at the Final Hearing (including instructions to Counsel)
  • Post Final Hearing debriefing and legal support with reconsideration requests/appeals if required

The stages set out above are an indication of what you can expect. Our fee will be reduced if you do not require some of these services. Alternatively, you may wish to handle the claim yourself and only receive our advice regarding some of these stages. Our services at each stage can be arranged based on your individual needs and preferences.

How long will it take?

The time it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case could take up to one year (or longer) depending on the court schedule. But it could take considerably less than this if a settlement is reached during the pre-claim conciliation stage.

The above information is an estimate/s based on our work with previous clients. We can give you a more accurate timescale once we have details about your specific case and as the matter progresses.

The exact costs and timescales will depend on the specific nature and complexity of your case. Our goal is to give you the information you need to make an informed choice about how to best proceed.

Please contact us to discuss your case further with our expert legal team. We can then give you an accurate fee quote and discuss possible next steps with you.

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