Meet the Employment team
Sarah Lee
Stephen Conlan
Steve Conlay
Emily Arnold
Thomas Lindars
Laura Wittke
Employment team fees and hourly rates
Delivering an exceptional legal service is of utmost importance. However, we also know that together with quality, the price of our services is likely to be important to you when looking for an employment lawyer. The complexity and variable nature of employment tribunal work can make it difficult to predict the cost of a case at the start. However, we have set out below details of the service we provide, how we charge and an example of our likely fees for bringing or defending an unfair dismissal and/or wrongful dismissal claim in the Employment Tribunal.
Our hourly charges
Our charges are based on the time it takes to deal with your case, which can vary significantly from case to case.
We charge our time based on an hourly rate, divided into and charged in six-minute units. Our current hourly rates vary from £150 to £350 plus VAT per hour depending on the experience and level of the fee earner working on your case. Specific rates are:
| Partner | £350 + VAT at 20% |
| Senior Associate | £250 + VAT at 20% |
| Solicitor | £195 + VAT at 20% |
| Senior Paralegal | £175 + VAT at 20% |
| Trainee Solicitor | £150 + VAT at 20% |
The time we charge for includes time spent attending on you and others, dealing with papers, drafting and reviewing documents, correspondence, telephone calls and attendance at the Employment Tribunal.
The hourly rates listed may be subject to change from time to time and depending on the specific circumstances of your case, the level of experience required and other relevant factors.
Expenses we incur on your behalf
In addition to our fees, we may incur other costs on your behalf. These are commonly referred to as disbursements and are costs, other than our fees, related to your case. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf.
In an unfair or wrongful dismissal claim, the most common disbursements will include barrister’s fees and our travel expenses. We usually instruct a barrister to represent you at the final hearing. A barrister’s fee for a typical simple final hearing can range between £1,500 to £3,000 plus VAT for the first day, including preparation, and thereafter between £750 to £2,000 plus VAT, for each additional day. The actual price will be determined by the complexity of the case and the seniority and experience of the barrister. Travel expenses are usually no more than £200 plus VAT. If a barrister is required to stay overnight at a hotel before or during a hearing, we will obtain hotel prices and agree those with you in advance.
If your unfair dismissal claim relates to issues concerning your health or your final salary pension, you may have to pay additional fees. These are likely to take the form of a contribution (probably half) of the fees payable to a medical expert to give expert opinion on your health or a pensions specialist.
Illustrative costs for bringing and defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal
It is not possible to state the actual cost of bringing or defending an unfair and / or wrongful dismissal claim. However, we set out below a range of illustrative costs.
Simple employment tribunal cases for unfair and / or wrongful dismissal can often be dealt with at a final hearing lasting between one to three days, with more limited preparation time. However, where the case is linked to other claims, such as discrimination or whistleblowing, or where a high number of witnesses are required, the final hearing can last for many more days and significantly more preparation will be needed.
In the tables below, a 'simple case' assumes an unfair or wrongful dismissal case with a final hearing lasting one to two days and a “case of medium complexity” assumes a case with a final hearing lasting 3 to 5 days.
Bringing Employment Tribunal claims for you as an individual:
| Simple case | £10,000 - £20,000 + VAT at 20% |
| A case of medium complexity | £15,000 - £40,000 + VAT at 20% |
| Other | Available upon request |
Defending Employment Tribunal Claims for your business:
| Simple case | £10,000 - £20,000 + VAT at 20% |
| A case off medium complexity | £15,000 - £50,000 + VAT at 20% |
| Other | Available upon request |
Disbursements such as barrister fees, travel and any applicable other expenses are not included in the stated prices and would be an additional cost.
There will also be an additional charge for us attending a final tribunal hearing of between £1,500 to £2,000 plus VAT per day.
The fees listed above are indicative estimates only and do not constitute a formal quote.
Work covered in the illustrations above
The illustrations above cover all work in relation to the following key stages of an unfair dismissal and / or wrongful dismissal claim:
- Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers, advising you on your prospects of success and the likely compensation. This will be kept under review as the claim progresses.
- Conducting early conciliation with ACAS where this is mandatory, to explore whether a settlement can be reached.
- Preparing your claim or response.
- Reviewing and advising on the claim or response from the other party.
- Exploring settlement and negotiating a settlement throughout the process.
- Preparing or considering a schedule of loss.
- Preparing for and attending one Preliminary Hearing.
- Exchanging documents with the other party.
- Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses.
- Preparing bundles of documents for the final hearing.
- Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements.
- Agreeing a list of issues, chronology and/or cast list.
- Providing instructions to and liaising as needed with the barrister for the final hearing.
The stages set out above are an indication only. If some of the stages are not required, costs will be reduced. If there are additional preliminary or other hearings, the costs will be higher.
Other factors that will affect our fees
Our fees for an employer are higher, as there is typically more work to be done. For example, as an employer, you will usually have more documents to disclose, more witnesses to interview and prepare statements for and are often asked to take the lead in some of the administrative steps, such as the preparation of the list of issues and bundles of documents for preliminary and final hearings.
The actual cost of bringing and defending an employment tribunal claim can vary significantly depending on the complexity of the case, the number of witnesses involved and the length of the hearing. The more complex a case, the more time and expertise required by a senior solicitor (and, therefore, expense).
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.
- Defending claims that are brought by individuals who are not represented by a legally qualified person.
- Complex preliminary issues, such as a claimant’s employment status (if this is not agreed by the parties).
- The number of witnesses and documents; the more witnesses and the greater the volume of documents, the more complex the case will be.
- If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if the dismissal is alleged to be because of whistleblowing.
- Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal.
If the employer counter-claims against the claimant in its defence (for example, it suggests that the claimant owes it money as a current or ex-employee). - If the claim is brought by multiple claimants against the employer.
- If the claim involves a trade union or a body of elected representatives.
- Making or defending a costs application.
The cost of each matter will, therefore, vary dependent on its individual facts and circumstances; no two employment tribunal claims are the same.
VAT
All our fees for our time, disbursements for barrister’s fees and medical report fees are plus VAT at the prevailing rate which is currently 20%.
Responsibility for your case, our qualifications and experience
All of our legal work is undertaken by qualified, talented and highly experienced lawyers who are all employment law experts and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Our lawyers include qualified Solicitors and Legal Executives who may be assisted by paralegals or trainees where it is appropriate to do so. All work is supervised by a partner.
You may ask for a specific member of our team to deal with your case. Otherwise, we allocate work based on our own specialities, experience and availability. The full details of our lawyers, including their experience and qualifications, can be found on the employment team page.
Timing
There is no set time for how long it takes from initial instructions to the final resolution of your case, as this depends largely on the stage at which it is resolved. Currently, there are significant delays at employment tribunals due to backlogs and lack of resources. If a settlement is reached during ACAS early conciliation, a claim is likely to take 4 to 6 weeks. If a claim proceeds to a final hearing, this is likely to take between 6 months and 3 years, depending on the complexity and the stages required throughout. Please note that this is just an illustration, and we will be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the case progresses.
The duration of any employment tribunal case and the final hearing, and the actions required before this, will influence the final cost.
Stages of a claim
A claim will usually consist of the following stages in a straightforward matter:
- ACAS Early Conciliation pre issue of a claim.
- Issuing of the claim at the Employment Tribunal via the ET1 Claim form.
- Filing the defence at the Employment Tribunal via the ET3 Response form.
- Attending a Case Management Preliminary hearing at the Employment Tribunal.
- The disclosure by both parties of relevant documents, and the collation of an agreed bundle of documents and material relevant to the case.
- The preparation and exchange of written statements for the witnesses relevant to the claim.
- The final hearing at the Employment Tribunal.
It is important to note that an employment tribunal judge will decide on the exact procedure and steps in the claim and how long the final hearing will take.
Other information
In an employment tribunal, it is usual for each party to be responsible for paying their own costs, irrespective of the outcome. Although there are limited exceptions, in the majority of cases this means that you will be responsible for paying all your legal costs even if your case or defence is successful.
We do not deal with cases on a no-win no-fee arrangement (damages-based agreements or conditional fee agreements), although we are always happy to discuss funding methods with you.
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