The Cost of Your Employment Tribunal Claim
The cost of acting for you in your Tribunal Claim will depend on the unique circumstances of the case, which lawyer carries out related work and of course the complexity of the facts and/or the relevant law.
You will be represented by lawyers in our Employment Law team whose details can be found below. Jolyon Berry leads the Employment team and is responsible for overseeing the work of the team.
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- Jolyon Berry
- Head of Employment
The quote that we give you will be based on your individual circumstances and will depend on the complexity of the case. The following factors are likely to make your claim more complex:
- If it is necessary to make an application to amend a claim or to provide further information about an existing claim
- Making a costs application
- Complex preliminary issues (if 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
- There are allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal
TSP legal fees for your Employment Tribunal Claim: The vast majority of claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal do not proceed to a final hearing before an Employment Tribunal and settle at an earlier stage. For this reason, in the table below, we have shown the key stages in an Employment Tribunal Claim and given a VAT inclusive estimated fee for each stage ranging from simple to complex.
| Key Stages in Your Matter / Complexity of Case | From Simple (inc. VAT) | From Complex (Inc VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| We take your initial instructions, review any papers and advise you on the time limits, merits and likely compensation. We will review these as the matter progresses and as we learn more about your case and your employer’s response. | £1,200 | £5,000 |
| When required, we will contact ACAS, to explore whether you could settle the case before bringing your claim to the tribunal. | £400 | £400 |
| We prepare the claim and file the claim form with the employment tribunal | £2,650 | £4,750 |
| We review and advise on the response that your employer files with the employment tribunal in its defence against your claim | £800 | £1,600 |
| We help you to prepare for and attend any preliminary hearing. We deal with any case management orders made by the employment tribunal. | £800 | £4,800 |
| We consider and advise you on the possible settlement of your case and negotiate any settlement. We will do this throughout the process. | £800 | £4,800 |
| We prepare a schedule of loss, setting out the compensation that you are claiming. This may need to be updated shortly before the hearing. | £800 | £4,800 |
| We collect any relevant documents from you, prepare a list of these for the employer and provide the employer with documents they request from the list. | £800 | £3,200 |
| We receive the employer’s list of documents and request and consider documents on the list. | £800 | £1,600 |
| We agree a bundle of documents with the employer that the employment tribunal needs to consider at the hearing. | £800 | £3,200 |
| We agree with the employer, a list of issues, a chronology and a cast list for the employment tribunal to use at the hearing. | £360 | £3,200 |
| We take a witness statement from you, draft the statement and agree the statement with you. (Cost indication per statement) |
£3,200 | £4,750 |
| We receive and check the agreed bundle of documents, which is usually prepared by the employer. | £200 | £1,200 |
| We exchange witness statements with the employer. | £200 | £400 |
| We receive and advise on the witness statements provided by the employer. | £400 | £3,200 |
| We prepare instructions to the barrister, who will represent you at the hearing. | £400 | £3,200 |
| We arrange and attend a conference with the barrister (if required) |
£400 (phone) | £1,600 |
| We attend the employment tribunal hearing with you and the barrister (per day). | £2,000 (optional) | £2,000 |
| We receive the employment tribunal’s judgment and advise you on the implications. | £800 | £1,200 |
| Total | £17,810 (incl VAT) | £54,900 (Incl VAT) |
The hourly rates of the members of the Employment team are fixed according to their respective levels of experience. Currently, they range from £134 (plus £26.80 VAT) for a Trainee Solicitor / Paralegal to £370 (plus £74 VAT) for a Director / Solicitor. Details of the rates of the relevant individual members of the team will be provided to you at the outset of your matter and the work will be undertaken by the individual team member(s) with the appropriate level(s) of experience.
We are required by law to identity and verify all companies that we work with. As part of this verification we are also required to identity and verify a number of other types of individuals associated with the company, such as Directors and Beneficial Owners. We will charge £10 plus VAT (£12 in total) per UK Company / Individual that we check. Where a company is located overseas the charge will be £35 plus VAT (£42 in total). More information on the types of individuals we are required to check can be found in our Terms of Business.
In some circumstances you may wish to handle parts of the defence yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages, this can also be arranged, based on your individual needs.
If it is necessary for our lawyer to travel to attend a hearing then we will charge travelling expenses in addition to our legal fee. These will depend on the location and length of the hearing and whether an overnight stay is required. We will discuss this with you at the time.
In addition to our fixed fee for the legal work you may also incur Barrister’s Fees. These will depend entirely on the experience of the advocate and the complexity and needs of your case.
A Barrister will usually be required in cases which reach a final hearing before a tribunal. In simple cases it may only be necessary to have a telephone conference with the Barrister. However, in more complex cases it is not unusual to incur an average fee of £4,000 (+£800 VAT) for briefing a Barrister. This fee would include time to prepare for the hearing also. Daily fees in the region of £2,000 (+£400 VAT) for attending your hearing, which may typically last 1 to 2 days, would also then be charged
Frequently Asked Questions
The fees detailed above assume that
- You will fully engage in the provision of adequate instructions and information
- The documents disclosed by you as relevant to proceedings do not exceed 100 pages
The following will not be included in our fee. We will let you know as early as possible if any of these are required and provide you with a separate quote.
- Any appeal against a decision by the Employment Tribunal or application for re-consideration
- Any mediation outside of negotiations through ACAS
- Any advocacy, including at hearings.
Barristers’ fees will be charged separately
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 6 to 8 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 9 months to a year. 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.
Contact our Solicitors in Colchester or Clacton
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