Your Employment Tribunal Legal Fees

Our approach is systematic and robust. Our goal is to present your claim in the best and legally persuasive way to encourage the respondent (your ex-employer) to settle as quickly as possible with you. Or if settlement is not possible, our approach ensures maximum success at the employment tribunal.

We take planned steps, as agreed with you. These are designed to progress your case in the most appropriate and cost effective way with the goal of concluding your case without the need for your case to proceed to a full hearing. This approach has proved to be the best way of minimising legal costs for our clients whilst achieving the best possible outcomes. That said if your case proceeds to a full-hearing we will fight hard and well on your behalf. Like for you, our reputation is at stake as well!

For employment tribunal cases, our full solicitor hourly rates range between £205.00+VAT (£246.00 inclusive of VAT) and £250.00+VAT (£300.00 inclusive of VAT) depending on which solicitor is appointed, the complexity and estimated value of your claim.

Our para-legal hourly rate is £80.00 + VAT (£96.00 inclusive of VAT).

Barrister (counsel) fees

In most cases our clients will be represented at a hearing by a barrister (counsel) who will be a specialist advocate.

The fees for specialist employment law barristers are made up of a ‘brief fee’ and ‘refreshers’. The brief fee covers the barrister’s case preparation for the hearing and the first day’s attendance at the hearing. The brief fee will depend on how much preparation is required and on the seniority/experience of the barrister. Brief fees range from £2,500+VAT (£3,000 inclusive of VAT) to £6,000+VAT (£7,200 inclusive of VAT). In some cases a brief fee could be more than £8,000 (£9,600 inclusive of VAT). Refresher fees cover the second and each subsequent day of the hearing. Depending on the barrister selected fees will vary from £750.00+VAT (£900 inclusive of VAT) to £2,000  VAT (£2,400 inclusive of VAT) or more per day depending on experience and how complex the case is.

We will always obtain your prior authority before incurring any counsel fees. There may be other expenses (disbursements) to pay for such as medical reports, travel or hotel accommodation and we will always agree these with you in advance.

At Quantrills our many years of dealing with employment tribunal cases shows no two cases are the same. Most of our cases are complex, high value ones that involve multiple claims including unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and at least one form of discrimination. This means if your case is a complex one then the legal costs involved will tend to be quite high. In all cases we always keep an eye on the value of a claim compared to the estimated legal costs. We ensure no client will incur legal fees without knowing what the likely financial outcome will be.

To help you understand the costs involved in bringing a claim in the employment tribunal against an employer for unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal based on a three day full hearing our fees could be, on average, up to £11,250+VAT (£13,500 inclusive of VAT) for a relatively straightforward case where the employee has only one or two witnesses. In contrast, where the case is more complex involving a number of disputed facts or issues or more witnesses or many documents then our costs could fall in the range of up to £21,500+VAT (£25,800 inclusive of VAT) and £32,000+VAT (£38,400 inclusive of VAT). In addition you need to add in the brief and refresher fees for a barrister to represent you at the hearing as explained above.

Please note that this cost information is provided as a reliable guide only based on our experience. A full case specific estimate can be obtained from us upon request.

To illustrate the wide range of legal fees that can be involved with employment tribunal cases, we have provided some typical examples of estimated fees based on what we have charged employee clients:

Each case is different. Some cases are more involved or complex than others. Your legal costs will be higher if it proves necessary for us to complete more case preparation. Factors that may make your case more complex and in turn increase your legal fees include:

• A case involving any type of discrimination.
• Arguments about time limits.
• A case that involves a large volume of case documentation, or if there is a dispute about the disclosure of documents or information.
• Preparing complicated schedules of loss, especially for pension loss claims.
• Dealing with complex preliminary issues such as whether you are a disabled person or if there is a dispute about your employment status or date of dismissal.
• Having two or more witnesses.
• If your claim is an automatic unfair dismissal one, for example, if you are a whistleblower or involves a health and safety complaint.

If your case proceeds to a full tribunal hearing your case may take between six and 12 months to be heard, especially if it has to be listed for more than one or two days. The availability of hearing dates is a real problem as parties often having to wait months for their case to be heard. This is due largely to a poorly funded and resourced employment tribunal service which does not currently have the administrative and judicial resources to deal efficiently with the number of tribunal claims.

In practice, the time it takes from starting your claim to its final outcome depends largely if and at what stage your case settles. In our experience, it is common for most cases to settle within the first three to six months of a claim being started.

As your case is progressed, we will keep you informed of the likely timescale based on how your ex-employer responds to your claim and once we have more information about what is in dispute.