Employment Tribunal Pricing

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as counsel’s fees, court costs and travel costs. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Counsel’s fees can vary depending on the experience and seniority of the barrister. Counsel’s daily rates tend to range between £850 to £2500 (excluding VAT, at 20%) (depending on experience of the advocate) for attending a Tribunal Hearing (including preparation).

When instructing counsel, we will always agree their fees with you in advance and you would be required to make a payment on account to us in respect of their agreed fee.

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 4-8 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 44-52 weeks. 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. The timescale is dependent upon the resources of the Employment Tribunal centre responsible for you case.

Funding

We advise that you check the content of any insurance policies that you have to see whether you have the benefit of legal expenses insurance. You may be entitled to advice if you are a member of a trade union. You may receive free legal advice from ACAS or the Citizens Advice Bureau. If you have a discrimination claim, you may qualify for legal aid (which this firm does not offer).

Costs in the Employment Tribunal

Cost orders by the Employment Tribunal are relatively rare and are the exception rather than the rule.  The starting position is generally that each party will bear their own costs, so even if you are a claimant who is successful in bringing a claim against a respondent, or you are a respondent who is successful in defending a claim, the likelihood is that you are going to have to pay any costs, including legal costs, that you incur.