Claiming for unfair or wrongful dismissal

The following illustrates our approach to handling claims of unfair and wrongful dismissal in the Employment Tribunal where such claims are not connected with issues such as discrimination, whistleblowing, or asserting a statutory right.

Typical legal costs

Not all the costs mentioned below will necessarily be incurred if it is possible to settle your case and a large number of cases do settle without making it to a Tribunal Hearing.

In our experience, the cost of advising and representing an employee in a straightforward claim addressing only wrongful dismissal, up to the point immediately before a Tribunal Hearing commences, will be in a range from £5,400 to £8,700 (excluding VAT).

In our experience, the cost of advising and representing an employee, in a straightforward claim addressing only unfair dismissal, up to the point immediately before a Tribunal Hearing commences, will be in a range from £8,650 to £11,900 (excluding VAT).

These typical costs are based on hourly rates of £180 to £300 per hour (excluding VAT).

Our fees could be higher than stated above if the case is a complex one. Factors that could make a case complex and increase costs include, but are not limited to:

  • Claiming against an unrepresented employer
  • Consideration of a complex element of law
  • Dealing with an extensive amount of documentation
  • Drafting statements for and/or dealing with a large number of witnesses
  • A need to make amendments to a claim or to provide further information about the claim
  • A need to seek further information about a defence to a claim
  • A need to address preliminary issues
  • A need to make or defend a costs application
  • Defending a claim for automatic unfair dismissal in connection with a transfer of an undertaking

In such circumstances, we will keep you fully up to date on fees and revise our estimates, as the case progresses.

On average, each day for attending a Tribunal Hearing will cost between £1,650 and £2,500 per day (excluding VAT).

Generally, you should expect a typical Tribunal Hearing to take one to three days, depending on the complexity of your case though very complex cases can be longer.

Key stages

The fee structure set out above covers all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim and applies to work after the pre-claim conciliation period has been concluded: 

  • Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on the merits of your claim (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
  • Preparing and submitting the claim form
  • Preparing a schedule of loss which indicates the value of your claim
  • Reviewing the response to the claim from your employer
  • Exchanging documents with the employer and agreeing the contents for the bundle of documents to be used at the Tribunal Hearing
  • Interviews for witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
  • Reviewing and advising on the employer’s witness statements
  • Agreeing a list of issues
  • Preparation for a Tribunal Hearing
  • Instructing a barrister, if they are to be engaged
  • Advising on and exploring and negotiating settlement throughout the process

This does not include the cost of preparing the bundle of documents to be used at the Tribunal Hearing as this is usually a task given to the employer. Neither does it include applying for a Tribunal Hearing of more than one day in length, the preparation of a chronology, skeleton arguments or a list of the key people who feature in the case.

Timeframe

The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your claim depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved and how soon the Employment Tribunal can schedule a Tribunal Hearing. Currently, the Employment Tribunal can schedule a Tribunal Hearing for a date between six to nine months from when a claim is submitted.

The initial date for listing will be provided once your claim has been acknowledged as received by the Employment Tribunal. This initial date will usually assume that the Tribunal Hearing will only take one day. If the Tribunal Hearing will take more than one day then the timeframe is likely to increase.

Issues relating to the handling of all claims

 

Alternatives

You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can be arranged according to your individual needs with the costs tailored accordingly.

Expenses

These will be referred to as disbursements and are the costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties.

There are currently no fees payable in the Employment Tribunal but costs for such things as travel expenses and fees for expert witnesses may be incurred. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process and will inform you if VAT is payable or not.

Normally we will present your case at a Tribunal Hearing but in very complex cases it may be that, after consulting with you, a barrister (also known as counsel) is engaged to do this. Counsel fees will be regarded as a disbursement with the costs of counsel dependent on the complexity of the case.