Funding your claim
It is worth remembering that for claims in the Employment Tribunal, you cannot normally recover your legal costs whether you win or lose.
Our pricing for bringing and defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal
Simple case: £4,000.00 -£7,000.00 (excluding VAT, charged at 20%)
Medium complexity case: £6,000.00 -£12,000.00 (excluding VAT, charged at 20%)
High complexity case: £10,000.00 -£17,000.00 (excluding VAT, charged at 20%)
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
- Making or defending a costs application
- Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is 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
- Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal
There will be an additional charge for attending a Tribunal Hearing of £750.00 per day (excluding VAT, charged at 20%). Generally, we would allow 1-3 days depending on the complexity of your case.
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. You are responsible for paying for those disbursements prior to them being incurred.
Counsel's fees estimated between £500.00 to £850.00 per day excluding VAT charged at 20% (depending on experience of the advocate) for attending a Tribunal Hearing. The Brief fee (preparation), which includes the first day’s appearance at the trial is likely to cost between £2,500.00 and 5,000.00 excluding VAT charged at 20%.
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 claim or response
- Reviewing and advising on 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
- 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
- Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel
The stages set out above are an indication and if some of stages above are not required, the fee will be reduced. You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can also be arranged on your individual needs.
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 4 - 12 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 12- 24 months. 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.
In cases of personal injury litigation, if the case meets our criteria, we may be able to offer a ‘No Win No Fee’ agreement, also known as Conditional Fee Agreement.
We will always invite you to check any household contents or other insurance policies. Sometimes people have legal expenses insurance without realising it!
If appropriate, we will offer a fixed fee for a particular piece of work.
