Our fees

Employment Tribunal Costs

In keeping with the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s rules on costs transparency, this page sets out our costs for bringing and defending wrongful and unfair dismissal claims in the Employment Tribunal. The costs set out below are an estimate.

We offer alternative ways for employers to fund defending Employment Tribunal claims.

These include:

longer term agreements where employers receive HR and Employment law advice from us throughout the life of the agreement and do not pay any additional legal costs when faced with a tribunal where our advice on best practice has been followed
longer term fixed fee arrangements for larger employers with regular employment tribunal claims.
Insurance cover (see Other Funding Options below)

Wrongful Dismissal Claim (single claim):

£5000 - £10,000 plus VAT

Unfair Dismissal Claims:

Simple cases: £8000 - £14,500 plus VAT

Medium complexity cases: £12,500 - £21,000 plus VAT

Complex cases: £18,500 - £35,000 plus VAT

All fees and rates quoted on this page are before VAT charged at the applicable rate, currently 20%.

It would not normally be necessary to undertake other work or incur other costs other than those described above. However, we would be very happy to provide you with a more tailored quote for all stages of your particular case once we know about your specific circumstances.

Factors influencing the cost of your case

Multiple or additional complex claims, such as discrimination and whistleblowing
Complex preliminary issues e.g. establishing if you or the other party has a disability
Making or defending 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
The volume of witnesses
The volume of documents
If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim

Key stages included in the above prices

Taking your initial instructions
Reviewing documents
Entering into pre-claim conciliation
Agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
Advising you on liability (your chances of winning) and quantum (any likely compensation you may receive or have to pay out
Preparing, drafting and submitting the ET1 (claim form) or ET3 (response form)
Reviewing and advising on the claim or response from the other party
Preparing and attending a preliminary hearing
Preparing and finalising or considering a schedule of loss
Preparing, finalising and agreeing a bundle of documents
Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
Preparing, finalising and exchanging or considering a bundle of documents with the other side
Attendance, by us, at the final tribunal hearing

The stages set out above are an indication of range of services we offer and can be adapted to suit your individual needs.

Potential Additional Charges

Substantial applications – if a formal request requires considerable preparation and/or response
Expenses and disbursements – these can include: travel, accommodation, medical and other expert reports, postage and photocopying
Advocacy services: This will be an additional cost if we need to instruct Counsel for their opinion and/or for their attendance at the hearing. Fees for Counsel tend to start from around £200 plus VAT per hour. Where this is appropriate, we would always discuss charges and options with you in advance.
Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
Preparing and attending judicial mediation

Disbursements

Disbursements are expenses related to your case payable to us or to third parties. We can handle payment of disbursements on your behalf but sometimes you may be asked to pay them direct. Examples of disbursements are court fees or Counsel’s fees.

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 2-12 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a final hearing, your case is likely to take between 9 months and 2 years to conclude. Much will depend on the waiting time for hearings - ie Employment Tribunal availability at the various stages. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

Other Funding Options

Businesses and other organisations: You may have insurance to protect you against employment claims. . If so, we look forward to working with you to understand your needs. For most businesses, whilst the insurer may have a panel of regular advisors, the terms of your insurance are likely to allow you to instruct a law firm of your own choosing. If you think you have insurance cover, you should discuss with your insurer. We would be happy to talk this through with you.

The costs of acting for you on an insured claim depend upon the terms of coverage of your insurance and the hourly rate the insurance provider agrees to cover for your legal advice. If you are likely to incur any additional costs not covered by the insurance, we would discuss these with you.

Individuals: You should always check whether another body (such as a scheme run by your employer or a trade union) could be responsible for your costs. It is also possible that you hold a legal expenses insurance policy that could cover your legal costs. Sometimes household contents, car or other insurance policies cover legal expenses. We strongly recommend that you carefully check for this as your insurers may contribute towards your costs. If you think you have insurance cover, you should discuss with your insurer.

Whilst the insurer may have a panel of regular advisors, the terms of your insurance are likely to allow you to instruct a law firm of your own choosing. Whilst we generally represent businesses, there are circumstances where we represent individuals or groups of individuals. We would be happy to talk this through with you.

Information about our team is available on the 'Our People' pages.