Estimating the cost of bringing an Employment Tribunal claim as a Claimant or defending an Employment Tribunal claim as a Respondent is unfortunately a difficult task and by necessity an inexact science.

Sometimes a preliminary issue, such as whether the Claimant has sufficient service to bring a claim, will add to the cost because it entails an additional hearing to consider that issue before a Full Merits Hearing and other times a preliminary issue will reduce the cost as the hearing to determine that issue disposes of the need for a subsequent Full Merits Hearing.

Many matters will settle as the claim progresses and so the legal fees incurred, by all parties, are often a direct reflection of how far the claim actually gets before a settlement is agreed.

Likewise, some matters which may seem legally straightforward have considerable factual background, large numbers of documents to disclose and many witnesses relevant to the proceedings. Other matters are very legally complex but have much less relevant evidence that will need to be considered in the course of the case.

All that said, it is very rare for an estimate of costs provided at the outset of a matter to prove to be inaccurate as it is generally possible to anticipate at that stage what aspects of the claim that has been brought are likely to add more cost than usual or are likely to reduce the usual cost.

The overall timescale can vary considerably depending on a variety of factors; in particular the complexity of the matter and how many days the final hearing is listed for. Even a simple matter is unfortunately now regularly taking six months to conclude due to pressure on the Employment Tribunal system meaning that often they cannot list the hearing for as soon as the parties would be ready to proceed with it. A complex matter entailing a preliminary hearing and a multi day final hearing is likely to take over a year to conclude from the point that proceedings are issued and may take more than two years (assuming there is no settlement agreed along the way).

The services that we provide are:

  1. Advising on prospects and potential value.
  2. Advising on tactics and case strategy.
  3. Liaising with yourselves, liaising with the other side(s), liaising with the Employment Tribunal, liaising with ACAS, liaising with either the Counsel instructed on your behalf or on the other side’s behalf and liaising with anyone else who will be relevant (although we generally suggest that you make initial contact with those you would wish to give witness evidence on your behalf prior to us doing so).
  4. Advising on disclosure obligations and preparing a disclosure list.
  5. Considering disclosure received and seeking to agree a bundle for use at the hearing.
  6. Preparing and advising on witness statement content.
  7. Attending hearings and conducting advocacy.

The estimated costs below are on the basis that you would wish us to undertake all of the above services relevant to the particular matter. Undertaking some of that yourself may reduce the estimate.

The usual stages of an Employment Tribunal claim are as follows and the likely cost of instructing Wilde Law would depend on whether we were instructed right at the outset or at a later point following you either having acted in person until our instructions or having previously instructed other representation. As mentioned above, many matters will be settled in the course of proceedings prior to some of these steps being undertaken and if a settlement is agreed then the remaining steps will not be needed.

  1. The Claimant or Claimants contact ACAS to initiate mandatory pre-claim conciliation. They can just immediately request a certificate that enables them to proceed to an Employment Tribunal without exploring the prospects of settlement beforehand but that is unusual. More commonly, the employee would request that ACAS contact their employer or former employer so as to notify them of the intention to bring a claim and discuss whether that prospective Respondent will make a settlement offer. There is then a six week negotiation period and in that time either a settlement will be agreed or it will become apparent that a settlement cannot be agreed. If one is agreed that will be the end of the matter and sometimes it will also be the end of the matter without a settlement being agreed if the Claimant(s) decide they do not wish to take matters further.
  2. The Claimant(s) submit form ET1 to the Employment Tribunal. The Tribunal will then undertake an initial sift and may make some preliminary enquiries but, unless there is a clear jurisdictional bar on the claim proceeding, will then send the claim form to the Respondent. Depending on the complexity of the claim, the Tribunal will either issue provisional case management orders at that point or else list a case management hearing (normally by telephone) to take place after the Respondent’s deadline for filing their ET3 response to the claim.
  3. The Respondent has 28 days from receipt of the claim form to lodge their response with the Tribunal. They do not need to provide the Claimant with that response (although will sometimes choose to do so) and therefore a Claimant will not normally see their employer or former employer’s response until the Employment Tribunal have sent it out to them.
  4. If the Tribunal did not issue case management orders at the same time as sending the claim form to the Respondent, a case management discussion will take place which will provide case management orders. It is usual for either the dates of a final hearing or a preliminary hearing (if needed) to be listed at this point.
  5. Sometimes there will be a preliminary hearing to determine a particular issue such as whether the Claimant meets the legal definition of disability or whether comments they made amount to protected public interest whistleblowing disclosures. The outcome of a preliminary hearing may sometimes mean that none of the claim can proceed and will therefore be the end of the entire matter, will sometimes determine that only particular aspects can proceed (which may in turn reduce the length of the final hearing) or may determine that the Claimant can proceed with all of their claim.
  6. The parties will then need to comply with the Tribunal case management orders. Standardly, that encompasses disclosing all relevant documents and agreeing a bundle for use at the hearing along with exchanging witness statements but may have additional components depending on the circumstances and whether both parties are professionally represented.
  7. The parties will then attend the final full merits hearing and receive the Tribunal’s judgment. If the Respondent successfully defends the claim that will normally be the end of the matter (although in rare instances there may also be a consideration of whether to award the Respondent some or all of the legal costs they have incurred and in some instances the Claimant will appeal or ask for a reconsideration). If the Claimant succeeds in some or all of their claim the Tribunal will sometimes be in a position to decide compensation there and other times will list a remedy hearing.
  8. A remedy hearing may take place and there may be appeals or requests for reconsideration from any of the parties involved in the hearing. Please note that the anticipated costs set out below are on the basis that the matter will not be appealed to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

The likely cost for a Claimant to pursue or a Respondent to defend a Tribunal claim is as follows; wherever possible precise estimates will be provided at the outset of all new client instructions.

Simple matter such as a straightforward Unfair Dismissal claim entailing a two-day hearing:

£6,000 – £10,000 plus VAT including representation at the hearing. VAT is applied at 20% and therefore the inclusive cost is £7,200 – £12,000.

Complex matter such as a Discrimination claim entailing a four-day hearing:

£10,000 – £15,000 plus VAT including representation at the hearing. VAT is applied at 20% and therefore the inclusive cost is £12,000 – £18,000.

Very complex matters such as cases that concern an unclear point of law requiring proceedings in the Employment Tribunal and an appeal being heard by the Employment Appeals Tribunal may exceed this cost and require representation from specialist Counsel. Even in such circumstances it is unlikely that the total cost including that representation from Counsel would exceed £25,000 plus VAT (£30,000 inc VAT). The actual cost of instructing Counsel where necessary can vary significantly from around £1,000 for a one day hearing to several thousand pounds each day of a hearing; Counsel’s fee does not always attract VAT at 20% but normally will do and so those estimates are inclusive of VAT.

In the rare instances where we need to instruct Counsel it would generally be for a matter which requires senior, experienced Counsel and their likely fee would reflect that seniority and experience. The instruction of Counsel is an example of something known as a disbursement and in some matters it may be necessary to incur further disbursements such as instructing an expert to prepare a medical opinion. This is most likely in circumstances where the nature of the claim is for disability discrimination but the Respondent is disputing that the Claimant was disabled (either at all or at the relevant time). The cost of such reports can range from a few hundred pounds to several thousand pounds (both estimates inclusive of VAT at 20%) and the Employment Tribunal will sometimes order that the cost be shared between the parties. In very rare instances there may be other disbursements such as instructing a forensic accountant or requesting an IT expert investigate something but this is so unusual and circumstance specific that we cannot meaningfully anticipate the probable cost.

Either Claimants or Respondents may benefit from Legal Expenses Insurance (for Claimants this is sometimes an add-on to motoring or home insurance and for Respondents this sometimes forms part of their wider business insurance) that includes employment disputes. If so, and the insurer accepts that the matter must be funded, it is unlikely there would be any direct cost to our client themselves.

In certain circumstances where the prospects of a claim are good and there is potentially significant financial value in pursuing it, we may offer to represent Claimants on a Damages Based Agreement (DBA) basis. The fee charged would normally be a third of anything recovered whether via settlement or judgment and so if nothing is recovered nothing would be payable as legal costs (although there may occasionally be a disbursement cost such as instructing a medical expert to provide a report). A fee might sometimes be charged for the time spent in assessing whether we are able to offer funding on a DBA basis but, unless there is considerable paperwork to review, that would normally be capped at charging for an hour’s time, being £260 plus VAT at our usual rate.

If anything is unclear to a prospective or returning client with regards the likely cost of proceeding to instruct Wilde Law in a Tribunal matter please contact philip@wildelaw.co.uk who would be pleased to clarify.

The costs set out here are a broad estimate based on sums charged in previous matters and a more precise estimate for the particular matter will normally be available at the outset of an instruction or as soon as possible thereafter.