Employment law for employees

Costs are normally incurred in the following key stages of unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal claims:
‍
1) After the initial consultation we’ll take your instructions, review your papers and advise you on the prospects of success in the claim and the likely compensation (note that this is likely to be revisited throughout the duration of your case and is subject to change)
2) Engaging in any pre-claim conciliation via ACAS
3) Preparing your Claim or Response
4) Reviewing and advising on the claim or response from the other party
5) Exploring settlement and negotiating a settlement throughout the ET process
6) Preparing or considering a Schedule of Loss
7) Preparing for and attending a Preliminary Hearing
8) Exchanging documents with the other party (disclosure)
9) Agreeing the contents of a bundle of documents for the full hearing
10) Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with any witnesses
11) Preparing bundles of documents for the final hearing
12) Reviewing and taking instructions on the other party’s witness statements
13) Agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
14) Instructing a barrister for the final hearing
15) Preparing for the final hearing, including attending any pre-trial conference with counsel

(The above stages are an indication only and if some of the stages are not required, your fees will likely be lower).

Time spent on a matter can vary significantly depending on the complexity of the case and its duration. Examples that may increase the complexity include (but are not limited to):

- Making or defending applications, for example, to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim, for deposit orders, or to strike out a claim of defence;
- Defending claims brought by litigants in person;
- Making or defending a costs application; and/or
- Where the claim includes allegations of discrimination or whistleblowing

Our charges are made up of:
‍
- Our fees for legal work
- Disbursements–related costs payable to other people such as a barrister’s fee. We can handle the payment of disbursements on your behalf
- Expenses– for example any printing charges.

Barristers normally charge their time for attending the ET using a daily rate. For claims of unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal which are not complex, their daily rate can range from around £500 to £2,500 depending on experience.

All costs on our website are exclusive of VAT at the applicable rate –currently 20%.

HOURLY RATES:
Depending on the nature of your matter, it may be necessary to work on an hourly rate basis. We’ll always give an estimate of costs before incurring anytime and endeavour to keep you updated on budget utilisation. Our hourly rates for our Employment team are set below:

AssociateDirectors & Heads of Department |  £375/hour
‍SeniorSolicitors |         £300/hour
‍JuniorSolicitors |         £250/hour
‍Trainees/Paralegals |    £175/hour

There will likely be an additional charge of around £1,400 per day for our attendance at an ET hearing. Generally, for simple cases of unfair or wrongful dismissal, we would expect your ET hearing to last around 2 to 3 days.

Depending on the complexity and time spent working on your case, we expect our total costs for defending or bringing a claim of unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal, from taking instructions to the full hearing (if not resolved before), will be in the region of (not including disbursements or expenses):

- Simple case: £15,000 – £25,000
- Medium complexity case: £25,000 –£45,000
- High complexity case: over £45,000

We always keep proportionality in mind and will provide you with a cost/benefit analysis of pursuing your case in the ET, particularly where your potential damages are low or your claim is for wrongful dismissal only in which case the compensation cap of £25,000 will apply. If this is the case, we will advise you about other avenues for bringing your wrongful dismissal claim, for example a claim in the courts.  

The time it takes from instructing us to the end of your claim of unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal depends largely on the stage at which it is resolved and other factors such as the availability of the ET and key witnesses, which are difficult to predict.

Settlement can be reached at any stage of the process. If settlement is reached at an early stage, for example during the ACAS Early Conciliation process, it’ll likely take around 4 to 6 weeks.

If settlement is not reached and your case proceeds to a full ET hearing, your case could take up to around 6-12 months, depending on the parties’ and theET’s availability and the complexity, and also whether it is subject to an appeal.

To keep costs proportionate and ensure continuity, you’ll likely be assisted by more than one fee-earner with different levels of experience. You’ll always be told who will be working on your case and details of their hourly rates.

Head to our team page and find out more about our employment team.