Employment Tribunal Fees
Legal costs
There are two main elements to the legal costs of dealing with an Employment Tribunal.
- Our charges;
- Expenses we must pay out on your behalf.
Our charges
The fee ranges below are an estimate and are exclusive of VAT and disbursements.
| Complexity | Fee Range | Timescales | Hearing Length |
| Low | £3000.00 – £5000.00 | Up to 9 months | 1 day |
| Medium | £5000.00 – £9000.00 | 9 – 12 months | 2-3 days |
| High | £9000.00 – £25000.00 | Over 12 months | 3+ days |
Our charges do not include VAT, which we will add to your bill at the prevailing rate. Hourly rates can vary from £100 per hour to £250 per hour depending upon the experience of the person working on your case.
We will review our hourly rates on a periodic basis. This is usually done each January. We will give you advance notice of any change to our hourly rates.
The above is for illustration purposes only and we will provide you with a full assessment of the likely costs involved after we have taken instructions and reviewed the relevant paperwork. Litigation by its very nature is uncertain and can sometimes involve unexpected complications. We strive to keep our clients updated as to any matters arising which could lead to additional charges being incurred.
If a matter or transaction does not reach a conclusion, we reserve the right to charge for the work done, using our normal charging basis of up to £250 per hour. This applies even where a fixed rate has been agreed for the whole matter.
Expenses
We would usually expect to incur certain expenses on your behalf which we will also add to your bill. The amount of expenses can vary and the following is an estimate only:
| Expense | Estimated amount | VAT chargeable |
| Electronic ID Verification (Smart Search) | £5.00 per person | Yes |
Additional costs
Additional amounts may be payable for our charges and/or expenses. These additional costs will be discussed and agreed with you prior to the commencement of any work on your behalf.
The additional amounts may include:
- Barrister’s fees – Should it be necessary to instruct a Barrister, an estimate of their charges will be obtained prior to this expense being incurred and we will seek your approval to incur this charge. It is not possible to provide an estimate until further details of your case are known such as the complexity and the likely length of Hearing
- Appeal fees – our additional charges are likely to be in the range of £2000.00 to £5000.00 should we be required to deal with an appeal. This estimate does not include any Barrister’s fees.
Key stages
We have set out below the key stages usually involved in bringing or defending a claim. Depending on the type of case, some of these steps will not apply and if they are not required, the cost of the claim will be lower.
- Taking instructions and dealing with initial paperwork
- Contacting ACAS or responding to a contact from ACAS to comply with Early Conciliation requirements.
- Drafting the Claim or Response
- Considering the response
- Preparing for and attending any Preliminary Hearing
- Compiling list of relevant documents
- Dealing with request for specific disclosure
- Compiling bundle
- Drafting witness statements and taking instructions
- Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements.
- Preparing and agreeing other documents as requested by the Tribunal
- Instructing a Barrister
- Preparation for and attendance at the Tribunal Hearing
- Exploring and negotiating settlement throughout the process, which may involve advising on the terms of a settlement agreement.
- Dealing with any appeal which will include instructing a Barrister. The likely, further costs of any appeal could range from £2,000 to £5,000 exclusive of Barristers fees.
- Likely timescales for a claim
The case can conclude at any stage up until the day of the Hearing. Sometimes cases are concluded early through the pre claim conciliation process (which is a maximum period of 6 weeks). In other cases, from the initial stages, up to the Tribunal Hearing can take over 12 months depending upon how the long the case is listed for; the longer the case, the longer it can take to be allocated a Hearing date.
Our expertise
Our team has over 15 years of collective experience in delivering high-quality work in all matters relating to employment law.
For details of the members of the team who may work on your matter, please see our Employment Law page. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Darren McGuinness, a Solicitor/Director with over 20 years’ post qualification experience.
