Employment Tribunal Fees

EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS: COSTS INFORMATION

You can be reassured by our promise to deliver quality advice without any nasty surprises on fees.

“Advising us on a particularly difficult employment law situation, Torque Law have been flexible, highly responsive and reassuringly knowledgeable as well as very patient and supportive. Fantastic people able to offer straight forward yet sensitive and practical solutions”.

OUR TEAM

Torque Law is a specialist employment law firm, solely providing employment law advice to employers and individuals. Your case will be handled by a qualified solicitor specialising in employment law. Either Tiggy Clifford or Emma Whiting, both Partners of the firm, will have responsibility for overall supervision of your claim. The team share over 75 years’ combined experience and have conducted all types of Employment Tribunal claims from straightforward unfair dismissal to complex whistleblowing and discrimination claims. For more details of the team, their qualifications and experience, please click here.

Our fees for bringing and defending claims in the Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal are charged on the basis of our hourly rates (which range from £200 plus VAT to £390 plus VAT) and our typical costs for handling an Employment Tribunal claim (as detailed below) fall within the following ranges:

We also act for employers and senior executives on all types of Employment Tribunal claims, including discrimination, whistleblowing and breach of contract. The fee ranges for bringing or defending those types of claim will depend upon the circumstances and complexity of the claim and details are available separately.

More information about alternative funding options, including legal expenses insurance under a household or commercial insurance policy, is available within the Terms of Business (although we are not normally able to accept instructions where an insurer is funding all or part of your costs).

We also offer discounts for charitable and not-for-profit organisations. More information about these discounts is available on request.

COMPLICATING FACTORS

The factors that could make a case more complex and therefore result in costs in excess of the fee ranges set out above, include:

• if it is necessary to make or defend applications brought by the other party to amend claims, to provide further information about an existing claim or to seek the other party’s compliance with case management directions
• defending claims that are brought by individual claimants in person without professional representation
• making or defending a costs application
• complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled for the purposes of the Equality Act provisions and/or whether preliminary hearings are required
• large numbers of witnesses and/or high volume of documents
• requirement to undertake e-disclosure or to prepare e-bundles
• if the claim is, or includes, a claim for automatic unfair dismissal e.g. a dismissal for allegedly blowing the whistle
• if the claim includes allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal or which form the basis of a separate claim or claims
• if the claim includes any issue other than unfair or wrongful dismissal
• if the value of the wrongful dismissal claim exceeds £25,000, separate High Court proceedings will need to be issued which are likely to be more costly

Prior to agreeing our terms of engagement, we will assess the complexity of the case and give you our best indication of the likely fee range from those outlined above. We will continually review that assessment and provide you with a revised estimate in the event of there being any change.

KEY STAGES OF THE CLAIM

1. Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on the merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
2. Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached
3. Preparing the Claim or Response
4. Reviewing and advising on the Claim or Response from the other party
5. Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
6. Preparing for and attending a preliminary hearing to set directions for future case management
7. Preparing a list of documents and exchanging this with the other party
8. Agreeing and preparing a joint bundle of documents for the hearing
9. Drafting witness statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
10. Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements
11. Preparing and agreeing a list of legal and/or factual issues, chronology and/or cast list
12. Preparation for and attendance at the Hearing, including Instructions to Counsel

The stages set out above are an indication and if some of the stages above are not required, the overall fee will be reduced. You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have limited input from us in relation to key stages. This can be arranged and may lead to a reduction in costs.

ADDITIONAL CHARGES

There will be additional charges for any of the following stages which may, or may not, be required in your case:

• attending a judicial mediation or judicial assessment at a cost in the region of £1,500 – £2,500 + VAT per day (being £1,800 – £3,000 including VAT per day) with up to 2 days preparation at a cost in the region of £1,500 – £2,500 + VAT per day (being £1,800 – £3,000 including VAT per day);
• a member of the Torque Law team attending a Tribunal Hearing in person or virtually at the cost of £1,500 – £2,500 + VAT per day, (being £1,800 – £3,000 including VAT per day) to assist Counsel;
• preparing for and attending a separate remedy hearing at the cost of £4,000-£7,000 + VAT (being £4,800 – £8,400 including VAT) (excluding Counsel’s fees)
• lodging or responding to a Notice of Appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal at the cost of £3,000-£5,000 + VAT (being £3,600 – £6,000 including VAT) (excluding Counsel’s fees for advice and preparation of the Notice of Appeal).

INSTRUCTION OF COUNSEL AND COUNSEL’S FEES

It is our normal practice to instruct Counsel to conduct the advocacy in all Tribunal Hearings, with the exception of Preliminary Hearings where we may, for cost or other reasons, conduct the Preliminary Hearing ourselves. We have close working relationships with a number of specialist employment barristers, of varying experience and cost, across Leeds, Manchester and London. We will always seek approval before instructing Counsel on your behalf.

Where Counsel is instructed, we will liaise with them at varying points in the case. You will be directly responsible for meeting Counsel’s fees in full and will be required to enter into a direct contractual relationship with the barrister/their chambers to that effect. Counsel’s fees for attending a Tribunal Hearing (including preparation and a pre-hearing conference) are estimated to be between £1,500-£2,500 (excluding VAT) (or £1,800 – £3,000 including VAT) per day (excluding expenses) depending on the experience of the advocate, the amount of preparation required and the duration of the case.

HOW LONG WILL THE MATTER TAKE TO CONCLUDE?

The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved. If settlement is reached at pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take 6-8 weeks to conclude. If the claim proceeds to a final Hearing, your case can take between 6-12 months to conclude and, for particularly complex cases, may be longer.

“Torque Law take a refreshingly holistic approach. They don’t bamboozle with jargon or leave a client feeling isolated amid legalise, they use their expertise to assess, not just the legal facts but also the clients situation”.