

5 Essential Tips on Setting Up a Business in the UK
With 801,000 new businesses launching in the UK between 2022-23, setting up for success is more important than…
Carry out fair and legally compliant dismissals with our employment law experts.
Handling employee dismissals requires careful legal navigation. Our solicitors provide expert guidance to ensure fair, legally compliant processes that minimise potential disputes and protect your business’s interests.
FAQs
A dismissal is when an employer chooses to end the employment relationship.
This includes:
Dismissals can be further categorised as actual dismissals or constructive dismissals. An actual dismissal is when the employer directly terminates the employment. A constructive dismissal is when the employer’s conduct causes the employee to resign.
Where an employee decides to end an employment relationship, this is known as resignation.
You can dismiss an employee based on the findings of a disciplinary procedure but how you handle that procedure is key to staying legally compliant, otherwise, you could face claims.
Following the correct procedures can help protect your company from unfair and wrongful dismissal claims and provide evidence of reasonable practices.
The key procedural steps for a disciplinary include:
If you suspect an ex-employee is going to raise a claim against you, or you already know about a claim, you should seek legal advice right away.
Acting fast can help protect your business’s reputation and could even prevent your case from being escalated to the Employment Tribunal.
You can book an initial consultation with our employment expert on 0203 007 5500.
First of all, you need to ensure you are dismissing someone according to the fair reasons guidelines. Fair reasons for dismissals include:
Once you have established a fair reason, you must follow a fair procedure according to your reason. For example, a conduct dismissal is handled differently to a redundancy.
For more information about fair reasons and procedures, you can read our “5 fair reasons for dismissals” blog.
If you are faced with an employment claim, you need to seek a specialist driving offence solicitor as soon as possible.
Instructing a solicitor will ensure:
To contact one of our solicitors, please call us on 0203 007 5500.
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.
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:
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.
Call, email or provide us with a few details of your matter, and we’ll help you arrange an initial consultation. You’ll get:
No fee surprises. Ever. Our solicitors in London and Brighton will inform you from the outset how much your case will cost and we will do everything in our power to keep costs down and within your original fee estimate.
You are our priority and law is our speciality. Our award-winning solicitors in London and Brighton ensure you know exactly where you stand from a legal perspective so you can make a well-informed decision.
With fortnightly updates on your case, you’ll never be left in the dark. Our solicitors in London and Brighton ensure you know exactly how your case is progressing and are with you every step of the way.
What we do
Our untimed initial consultations provide you with as long as you need to speak to a specialist solicitor about your matter.