Tribunal Representation.

In England, the employment tribunal is responsible for resolving serious workplace disputes. During a tribunal, the defendent is always the employer. The claimaint can be ex or current employees, trade unions, or job applicants.

The role of the employment tribunal is to establish whether the employer is responsible for wrongdoing and if they are, what kind of compensation is suitable for the claimant.

• Wrongful dismissals
• Unair dismissals
• discrimination
• Redundancy
• Denying a flexible working request without fair reason
• Breach of contract
• Equal pay

If you receive notice of a claim, you must respond. You can’t just hope that it will go away.

As with any legal case, you have the right to legal counsel – a highly useful and recommended tool for dealing with claims. If you have in-house legal they may deal with it. If not you should instruct an employment solicitor.

During the tribunal you have the right to present evidence and cross-examine the claimants evidence.

If the court makes a decision you disagree with, you have the right to appeal.

Have you received notice of an employment claim? Contact our expert solicitors on 0203 007 5500.

You can prevent cases from escalating to the employment tribunal in various ways.

ACAS early conciliation

Your employee must inform ACAS before submitting a claim to the employment tribunal. ACAS offer an early conciliation service where a neutral person will work with both parties to try and resolve the dispute before escalation. Because this service involved a contract upon agreement, it is legally binding.

Settlement Agreements

This is a legally binding agreement that covers terms all parties agree to. This can involve compensation, a workplace resolution to the issue in dispute, or resinstatement to a role.

Preventing disputes

Of course, prevention is the best and most efficient option. If you implement best practices in accordance with regulations, set out robust policies, and act with fair treatment, then you have a good chance of preventing any employment claims.

If you are ever in doubt, seeking legal advice early on from an employment law expert can help you iron out any potential issues. You can contact our solicitors on 0203 007 5500.

There are three main ways that we work with businesses:

Preventative measures

We work with businesses to minimise the probability of employment issues arising and to advise on contractual and workplace changes. This includes elements like training for management, contract reviews, and policy reviews.

Crisis and claim management

Where businesses are facing the prospect of a claim, we act swiftly to minimise damage and defend your company’s interests prior to and during any Employment Tribunal action.

Post-claim changes

If your business has recently faced a claim or had a spate of grievances raised, we will identify any underlying issues and provide you with a plan of action to minimise business disruption.

A simple unfair/wrongful dismissal case that settles before needing to submit a claim to the Employment Tribunal hearing will cost in the region of £2,500 to £5,000 plus VAT. This is based on the approximate 8 to 16 hours of work it will take to settle your claim with your employer. Costs can increase with complexity and how long the case goes on for. If your case proceeds to the Employment Tribunal, you can expect to pay over £15,000 plus VAT. We don’t offer fixed fees for unfair dismissal.

There may be additional fees payable, such as barrister fees and administration fees to create bundles and other paperwork. Barrister fees will vary based on the experience level of the chosen barrister.

The general rule is that the Employment Tribunal is a cost-neutral environment, so neither party is rarely made responsible for the other side’s costs. However, there are exceptions to this general rule.

Our solicitors charge £295 to £550 per hour, plus VAT depending on the seniority of who is working on your employment matter. Our average costs represent the work involved across the period it usually takes to either settle your case out of court or proceed to a full hearing.

The stages below are indicative of the work involved in bringing an unfair dismissal claim to court. 

• 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 early conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached
• Preparing to submit your claim or your response to a claim
• Reviewing and advising on a claim or response from the other party
• Exploring settlement and attempting to negotiate a 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 on 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 on a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
• Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel

Depending on when your matter settles, not all stages may be applicable.

No two unfair dismissal cases are the same, and there are many factors that affect how much your case will cost.

Cost Variables include:

• Whether the claim includes elements of discrimination and/or victimisation. This includes issues around whether the claimant has a disability and whether this is disputed by the defendant
• Whether whistleblowing is, or could have been the cause for dismissal
• Whether or not an application for costs is going to be made
• If there are complexities arising from Transfers of Undertakings (TUPE)
• The number of witnesses and documents involved in a case
• The involvement of any experts to verify evidence or a person’s condition

If the case proceeds to a hearing, an additional daily fee of £1,200 to £2,400 plus VAT will be applied for the solicitor in attendance, depending on the seniority of the solicitor.

There are currently no mandatory disbursements payable for Employment Tribunal cases. However, there may be additional fees incurred for travel and expert witnesses. If any additional disbursements are required, we will always consult with you first unless there are practical reasons why this is not possible.

This depends on at which stage your case is resolved. For matters that are settled out of court during pre-claim conciliation, your case can take a period of 4-8 weeks.

If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, this will depend on the Employment Tribunal’s availability. Typically, HMCTS aims to list a preliminary case management hearing date within 26 weeks from when the claim commenced. The final hearing date is generally set at the preliminary case management hearing. The court is currently scheduling final hearings around 18 months are the preliminary case management hearing.