Our Employment team has over 50 years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in Employment claims.

Any member of our Employment team may work on a matter ranging from Partners to experienced legal assistants. Further information relating to our team can be found on their individual profile pages within this website. The team is supervised by Mark Daubney, Partner and Head of the Employment Department.

 

Hourly Rates

Our hourly rates range between £115 to £295 excluding VAT, (£138 to £354 including VAT), depending on the seniority of the member(s) of staff dealing with your case, which in turn will depend on its complexity.

 

Estimated Costs – Unfair or wrongful dismissal claims

The exact number of hours it will take for bringing and defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal depend on the circumstances in the individual case. Unfair and wrongful dismissal claims are usually brought together in the Employment Tribunal because the relevant facts are usually the same.

If you instruct us we will of course provide a fee estimate tailored to the particular proceedings. However, we have set out below an outline of what costs could be incurred for different types of cases:

 

Case Complexity	Our Fees (estimate)	Counsel’s Fees (if instructed – estimate)	Total Fee (estimate)
Low	£6,000 to £10,000 +VAT (£7,200 to £12,000 inclusive of VAT)	£1,500 to £2,000 +VAT (£1,800 to £2,400 inclusive of VAT)	£7,500 to £12,000 +VAT (£9,000 to £14,400 inclusive of VAT)
Medium	£10,000 to £20,000 +VAT (£12,000 to £24,000 inclusive of VAT)	£2,000 to £4,000 +VAT (£2,400 to £4,800 inclusive of VAT)	£12,000 to £24,000 +VAT (£14,400 to £28,800 inclusive of VAT)
High	£20,000 to £30,000 +VAT (£24,000 to £36,000 inclusive of VAT)	£4,000 to £8,000 +VAT (£4,800 to £9,600 inclusive of VAT)	£24,000 to £38,000 +VAT (£28,800 to £45,600 inclusive of VAT)

(The VAT rate payable on our fees and disbursements is currently 20%).

Many Tribunal claims settle before a Final Hearing. If the claim settles at an early stage of the proceedings legal costs are likely to be significantly less than the figures shown above.

The above cost outlines assume unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims are brought together in the Employment Tribunal (sometimes wrongful dismissal claims may be brought separately in the County Court; unfair dismissal claims must be brought in the Employment Tribunal).

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
• Complex preliminary issues such as whether the Tribunal has jurisdiction to hear the claim (if this is not agreed by the parties)
• Preliminary hearings
• Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person
• The number of documents
• The number of witnesses
• The remedy claimed, eg, whether there is an application for re-instatement or re-engagement or if there is a claim for the loss of a final salary pension
• If your claim is a result of your employment being transferred from one employer to another
• If it is an automatically unfair dismissal claim e.g. whistleblowing. Allegations of whistleblowing are always likely to make a claim more protracted and complex
• Making or defending a costs application

The above fee estimates are for unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and whistleblowing claims only. The charges for discrimination or other claims are likely to depend upon the number of allegations of discrimination and length of a final hearing (discrimination claims are often highly fact sensitive and usually take longer than an unfair dismissal claim).

 

Estimated Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Counsel’s fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process (and in some cases because we are required to do so).

The only disbursements we anticipate that may be payable in a claim for unfair or wrongful dismissal are Counsel’s (barrister’s) fees. Such disbursements vary depending on the experience of the barrister.  The estimated costs given above assume that a middle ranking barrister is instructed.  The type of case and its complexity (see examples given above of what can make a case more complex) can determine how experienced a barrister needs to be for any particular case. 

 

Key stages

The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:

• Taking initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising 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 a claim or response
• Reviewing and advising on a claim or response from other party
• Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
• Preparing or considering a schedule of loss
• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing (more complex or protracted cases only)
• Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
• Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
• Preparing a bundle of documents for use at the Tribunal hearing
• Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements
• Agreeing a list of issues and a chronology
• Preparation and representation at a Final Hearing

The stages set out above are only an indication and the actual work required for a particular case may vary depending upon orders of the Employment Tribunal, the conduct of the other side and your instructions.

 

Time

The time that it takes from taking initial instructions to the final resolution of a matter depends largely on the stage at which the case is resolved.

If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, the case is likely to take around four to six weeks.

If a claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, the case is likely to take between six and twelve months (although this depends upon where in the country the case is litigated as some Tribunals have longer waiting times than others). This is just an estimate and we will of course give a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

 

Funding Options

Please check whether you have legal expenses cover on any of your insurance policies (including business insurance policies) as these may cover our fees. We also offer insurance against Employment Tribunal claims via a third party.

Other funding options may also be available.

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