Our pricing below is for bringing and defending claims for ordinary, unfair or wrongful dismissal only. If the claim includes whistleblowing, discrimination, or regulatory issues we will provide tailored fees for that claim.
We do not charge fixed fees for making or defending an employment law claim for unfair or wrongful dismissal in the Employment Tribunal. All work we carry out will be charged by reference to the hourly rate of the solicitor who undertakes the work (which based on an hourly rate of £310 plus VAT (currently 20%)
It is not possible to give you a specific quote without further information from you so the following are guidelines only and we would carry out an assessment specific to your claim at the outset to enable us to give you a better estimate of the likely fees you will incur. An estimated range of likely fees are as follows for taking all steps up to but excluding any final hearing.
| Case Complexity | Cost (Ex. VAT and Disbursements) |
|---|---|
| Simple Case | £6,000 to £17,500 |
| Medium Complexity Case | £15,000 to £37,500 |
| High Complexity Case | £30,000 to £75,000 plus |
Factors that could make a case more complex:
- 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 (i.e. where a party does not have legal representation)
- Making or defending a costs application
- Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties)
- Where numerous preliminary hearings are required
- 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
- Where a claim involves a variety of claims or more than one Claimant is involved
- If separate hearings are required for liability and remedy
Final Hearing Costs
If the claim proceeds to a final hearing then there will be an additional charge for one of our solicitors to attend a final Tribunal Hearing of up to £3,100 plus VAT per day (based on up to 10 hours of work including travelling time). In addition if the advocacy is undertaken by a Barrister (Counsel) then further fees will be incurred – see the Disbursements section below.
Depending on the complexity of your case the final hearing may take between 1 to 10 days. Often the Employment Tribunal will set the length of the final hearing as soon as a case is issued or at a preliminary hearing at which point we can provide a more accurate estimate of the cost for the final hearing.
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are out of pocket expenses and often payable to third parties such as Court fees, travel expenses or Barrister’s. (Counsel) fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
We will only instruct a barrister with your authority to do so but we will advise if the use of Counsel is appropriate on your case. Counsel’s fees will be incurred where we instruct a barrister to undertake work on your case such as drafting complex court documents or to attend the final hearing.
Where Counsel is instructed to attend the final hearing a brief fee will be incurred (in addition to any fees of attendance by the solicitor conducting your case if their attendance is appropriate). The brief fee will cover the Barrister’s preparation for and attendance on the first day of the trial. The cost can vary between £1,000 to £15,000 plus VAT depending on the experience of Counsel, the complexity of the claim, the amount of documents they need to review and the length of any final hearing. Counsel will normally charge an additional fee for addending the second and subsequent days of trial. These are known as Refresher fees and can vary between £1,000 plus VAT to £5,000 plus VAT per day.
Employment Tribunal Appeals
Our fee estimates do not include any work or advice required with regard to any appeal of an Employment Tribunal decision or an application for costs or defence of an application for costs against you except where this is dealt with as part of the final hearing.
Key Stages
The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:
- 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)
- Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached
- Preparing the claim or response to the claim
- Reviewing and advising on any claim or response from the other party
- Exploring settlement 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 and preparing a bundle of documents
- Taking witness statements, drafting witness statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
- 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 the final hearing, including preparing instructions to Counsel and attending any conferences with Counsel that might be necessary;
The stages set out above are an indication and if some of stages above are not required then the final costs will be reduced. You may wish to handle some or all of the parts of the claim or defence yourself and only have our advice in relation to some stages of the claim.
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 conciliation, your case is likely to take 2-8 weeks.
If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 6 to 12 months and in some cases this can be longer. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to provide you with a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.
Who will carry out the work?
The work on your matter will be carried out by Lauren Pickard, Executive Director & Solicitor (together with any support staff undertaking administrative roles).