Employment Tribunals - How We Charge

How do we charge?

Our pricing for bringing and defending unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal claims is charged on a time basis estimated in accordance with our normal hourly rates.

Hourly rates

	£ excl VAT at 20%	£ incl VAT at 20%
Partner	£350.00	£420.00
Senior Solicitor	£260.00	£312.00
Solicitor	£220.00	£264.00
Trainee Solicitor	£150 to £165.00	£180 to £198.00

Key stages

The stages set out below are an indication and if some are not required, the fees set out below may be lower. Alternatively, you may wish to handle a claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can be arranged to suit your individual needs.

Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change).
Giving a pre-claim ACAS early conciliation notification where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached.
Preparing claim or response.
Reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party.
Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process.Preparing or considering a schedule of the compensation being claimed.
Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing.
Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing the set of documents to be used in the case.

Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses.
Preparing 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 and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to any barrister instructed.

Range of costs

Our range of costs for bringing and defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal assuming that we (rather than a barrister) represent you at a full Hearing in the Tribunal (for one day only) is as follows:

	Excl VAT at 20%	Incl VAT at 20%
Simple Case	£15,000 to £20,000	£18,000 to £24,000
Medium complexity case	£20,000 to £35,000	£24,000 to £42,000
High complexity case	£35,000 to £50,000	£42,000 to £60,000

Factors that could make a case more complex include:

If it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim.
Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person.
Making or defending a costs application / strikeout application and/or application for a deposit order.
Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (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 blowing the whistle on your employer.
Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal.
The compensation in issue.

Where the case is listed for more than one day for the full Hearing, the overall costs will likely exceed the top end of the “High Complexity case” range cited above.

Representation at a Tribunal Hearing

Depending on the approach that we agree to take to representation at the (final) Hearing, there may be an additional charge for a barrister to represent you (in our place).

Unfair Dismissal cases are typically listed between one and four days, depending on the complexity of your case (and the claims pursued). If a barrister is instructed, they typically charge between £5,500 and £8,000 excl VAT at 20% (£6,600 and £9,600 incl VAT at 20%) for the first day of the Hearing, including preparation time, with Hearing days thereafter charged at a ‘refresher’ rate of 50% of the first day’s rate – the fees depending on the experience of the barrister concerned.

If a barrister is engaged, we will invoice you for their fees and we will make the payment to them directly; we will ask you for money on account of their fees in advance of the Hearing.

In the Employment Tribunal, costs orders do not “follow the event” as they often do in the civil courts. If you are successful in bringing or defending a claim in the Employment Tribunal, the general rule is that the Tribunal will not make an order that the unsuccessful party pays your costs.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties. There are no Tribunal fees payable in relation to Employment Tribunal proceedings and disbursements are likely to be limited to travelling costs, costs related to the production of documentation for Tribunal Hearings and/or for experts, if required.

We will invoice you for these disbursements but will handle the payment of them on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Further disbursements may be payable and we will be able to advise further when taking your full instructions. We may ask you for money on account of disbursements in advance of incurring them e.g. Counsel fees – see above.

How long will my matter take?

The time that 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 a settlement is reached during pre-claim ACAS conciliation period, your case is likely to take 8 to 12 weeks to resolve but if your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 52 to 78 weeks.

It is important to emphasise that these are just estimates and that they can be heavily influenced by how busy the Employment Tribunal system is and when it is able to schedule your case for a Hearing, as well as the availability of witnesses. We will be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

Who will be advising you?

A suitably qualified member(s) of the Employment Law team will work on your matter, supervised by partner and team head Sue Dowling or another senior member of the team. You can find out more about the other members of our team below.