Fees

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) requires that all regulated law firms publish fee information on a select number of services specified by the SRA. For details on how we charge for Employment Tribunals services please see our fee details below.

This note specifically covers the legal costs that are likely to be incurred in connection with:

1. The provision of advice and representation to employees in relation to the bringing of claims before the Employment Tribunal against an employer for unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal; and
2. The provision of advice and representation to employers in relation to defending claims before the Employment Tribunal against an employee for unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal;

This information is a summary only and so you should refer to one of the lawyers in our employment law team for specific details as to the fees, disbursements and other expenses in your particular case.

Our Employment Law Team.

The lawyers in our employment law team have many years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to employment law – dealing with both private individuals or companies in respect of both contentious and non-contentious issues.

Our employment law practitioners are listed below. For more information relating to experience and qualifications please follow the link by clicking on the appropriate name below.

Tom Walshe
Richard Dugdale
Jai Sharda
Joanne Smith

General Terms

Unfair dismissal

This is where an employee considers his/her termination of employment not to have been for a ‘statutory fair reason’ and/or the employer did not follow a ‘fair procedure’. In such circumstances, the employee has the option to apply to the Employment Tribunal for an appropriate remedy.

So long as the reason for the decision of the employer is not ‘inadmissible’ (e.g. assertion of a statutory right), the employee will have to have been employed by the employer for a period of at least two continuous years in order to bring such a claim.

Wrongful dismissal

An employer will be in breach of contract if it (i) is not entitled to dismiss an employee without notice (known as summary dismissal); and (ii) it does not give the required period of notice. The employee is then permitted to issue a wrongful dismissal claim in the Employment Tribunal.

This principle does not apply if the employer exercises a Payment In Lieu of Notice (PILON) provision in the employment contract. Here, the employee will have to sue for a sum due under the contract, rather than damages for breach.

Legal Costs

We set out below an estimate of the legal costs, disbursements and other expenses that we estimate will be payable in claiming or defending an action in the Employment Tribunal, which are generally equivalent regardless of whether we are representing an employee or employer as claimant or defendant in such proceedings.

Overview

The Employment Tribunal is a costs neutral zone. This means:

1. There are no fees payable to the Employment Tribunal, for instance to issue a claim.
2. Except in extreme circumstances (e.g. where the claim is vexatious / the conduct of either of the parties is deemed to be so unreasonable as to warrant a costs order), the Employment Tribunal will not order that the unsuccessful party pays the legal costs of the other side. Therefore, each party is effectively responsible for payment of their own legal costs, without liability / risk of the opponent’s legal costs.

It is difficult to predict what your total legal costs will be as this is dependent on a variety of factors, such as:

• the complexity of the matter in terms of the allegations forming the claim and/or scope of evidence that needs to be obtained / reviewed, including witnesses;
• whether there are any other causes of actions raised within the unfair dismissal and/or wrongful dismissal claim, such as discrimination;
• whether it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim;
• defending proceedings brought by litigants in person;
• the necessity of Counsel;
• whether proceedings are issued;
• the willingness of the other side to engage in alternative dispute resolution and what stage of the proceedings any settlement is reached;
• how the matter progresses generally – you should be aware that even a case that appears at the outset to be of straightforward nature can escalate upon the discover of more significant issues during the course of litigation and vice-versa; and/or
• making or defending a costs application.

Solicitor fees

Our legal fees will be charged on an hourly-rate basis. As is common amongst law firms, each hour of time spent by the relevant practitioner and support staff is split into units whereby each unit of work equals six minutes.

In order to keep costs at a proportionate level, at all times, the work done on any particular matter will be carried out by a fee earner or support staff with the appropriate level of skill and expertise.

The lawyer with overall conduct of your file will inform you at an early stage as to the relevant hourly fees that will apply to your case. These figures are reviewed by the firm annually to reflect the expertise of the team member and market rates.

By way of an estimate and in consideration of the relevant factors that have an impact on legal costs, our pricing for bringing or defending claims for unfair and/or wrongful dismissal claims are:-

Simple case: £2,000 – £4,000 (plus VAT which will be charged at 20%)

Medium complexity case: £4,000 – £12,000 (plus VAT which will be charged at 20%)

High complexity case: £12,000 – £20,000 (plus VAT which will be charged at 20%)

We charge our costs on the basis of an hourly rate (which is currently £205 to £475 per hour plus VAT at 20%) and we estimate these ranges of costs based on how much time we think that it will take to bring or defend a claim and the experience of the practitioner with conduct of the matter. The more complex a claim is, the more experienced the practitioner will need to be and so more complex claims will involve a higher hourly rate being charged.

Factors that can make a claim more complex include:

• If applications are necessary to amend your response/defence or to provide further information about your response defence;
• Making or defending claims where the other party is a litigant in person;
• Making or defending a costs application;
• Dealing with complex preliminary issues which involve a preliminary hearing;
• The number of witnesses needed and the volume of documentation involved;
• If a dismissal claim is involved which the law says is automatically unfair;
• If a claim involves allegations of discrimination.

There will be an additional charge above these ranges for our attendance at a Tribunal Hearing at the hourly-rate of the practitioner with conduct of the matter. It is unlikely that a ‘simple case’ will require a Tribunal Hearing or our presence at the same, however this will depend on the circumstances and we will advise accordingly.

There are only a few instances where the firm will operate a capped-fee arrangement in respect of contentious employment law work. You should check with one of the members of our employment team as to whether your matter qualifies.

The bands set out herein 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 (we will revisit this stage throughout the matter and the outcome is subject to change);
• entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached before issuing proceedings;
• preparing a claim or response;
• reviewing and advising on a claim or response from the other party;
• exploring alternative dispute resolution and negotiating settlement;
• 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 bundle of documents;
• reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements;
• agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list; and/or
• preparation and attendance at a Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel.

If any of these key stages are not required for a particular case then the level of fees will be lower, however it is still likely to fall within one of the ranges for a ‘simple case’, ‘medium complexity case’ or ‘high complexity case’.

Disbursements

Disbursements are sums that are payable by you to third parties:

Counsel fees – We might instruct specialist Counsel on your behalf to draft particulars, advise on merits or issues that arise during the course of proceedings and/or represent you at any Tribunal Hearings.

We will advise if it is appropriate for Counsel to be appointed at any stage of the proceedings and agree fees with you beforehand. Counsel’s fees can vary between £500 – £20,000 per day (plus VAT at 20%) – the precise amount charged by Counsel will reflect the seniority of the barrister, the complexity of the work, whether he/she is prepared to act under a fixed-fee arrangement and/or the length of any Tribunal Hearings.

Mediator fees – The ACAS service offers a free conciliation mechanism that a prospective claimant has to engage in prior to issuing proceedings in the Employment Tribunal. Either party can rely on ACAS thereafter, again without cost.

Aside from ACAS, the parties have the option of pursuing other forms of alternative dispute resolution throughout the dispute, including without prejudice settlement meetings between the parties and/or formal mediation before a mediator. If the latter, the parties will normally (i) agree the mediator from a shortlist of candidates (with the knowledge of the mediator’s fee); and (ii) split the costs of the mediation (including any room hire and/or other expenses).

Legal expenses insurance

Employees instructing this firm should check their papers and documents to see whether or not they have any form of legal expenses insurance which might cover their legal costs. This type of cover is often available without the insured realising it. For instance, for private individuals it is often tacked onto a borrower’s arrangements with his/her mortgage company, and is sometimes described as “family legal expenses insurance”. It can also be in place as a result of membership of certain organisations such as the AA, and RAC, and even under certain credit card agreements. The above scenarios are by no means exhaustive and private employees should check carefully to see whether you have any pre-existing legal expenses insurance.

How long will a matter take?

The time it takes from taking initial instructions to the resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which the case is determined. This will have an impact on the legal costs you incur.

An employee must bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal within three months from the date of termination, subject to a one month stay in proceedings allowed if the matter is referred to ACAS for early conciliation. Therefore, if the case is settled during pre-conciliation, we are likely to be engaged between one week – three months. Otherwise, if we are to proceed beyond this stage, this could take three months – date the Employment Tribunal lists the case for a Final Hearing (e.g. one year depending on the complexity of the matters and scheduling of the Employment Tribunal).

We will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses