Employment Law

Our hourly rates for both our employer and employee clients ARE £99 plus VAT @ 20% for support work carried out by a Legal Assistant and £295 plus VAT @ 20% for work carried out by our Employment Law Consultant, who is a qualified solicitor with over 20 years’ experience.

The cost of the work we carry out for you will vary according to the complexity of your matter and the amount of work required. When you engage us to carry out work for you, we will clearly state the hourly rate to be applied and provide you with an estimate of how many hours’ work will be involved. We will update this estimate as your case progresses and will invoice you at regular intervals to avoid costs accumulating throughout. We will provide an update on costs incurred whenever you ask for it.

In some situations, we may be able to agree a fixed price with you. This may be the case in relation to project work, for example when we are engaged to review or draft employment contracts and staff handbooks.

Whilst we carry out many different types of employment work, our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, requires us to provide specific fee information in relation to Employment Tribunal cases for unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal. This information applies whether we are representing you as an employee and Claimant to the claim, or as an employer and Respondent to the claim.

Unfair Dismissal (for employers and employees)

Our work will be charged at the above hourly rates and our total charge will depend upon the stage at which a settlement or other resolution is reached, and whether the matter continues to a Tribunal hearing. If a settlement cannot be reached, our total charge is likely to range from £10,000 to £40,000 plus VAT for an unfair dismissal claim, depending on the complexity of the case and other factors, including:

• The number of Claimants or Respondents
• Whether applications for medical records or reports are required
• Whether the other party to the case is legally represented
• Whether there are preliminary issues to be decided, such as whether the Claimant has a disability or whether the claim has been submitted within the Tribunal time limit
• Whether judicial mediation takes place, to try and achieve a resolution before the Tribunal hearing
• Whether requests for further information or documentation is required from the other party to the claim
• The number of witnesses that each party intends to call to give evidence at the Tribunal hearing.

There will be an additional charge for attending the Tribunal hearing, which may take 1-4 days, including remedy, depending on the complexity of the case and the number of witnesses involved. Attendance will be charged at the hourly rate of the solicitor involved, which ranges from £250 to £295 per hour, plus VAT @ 20%. However, where a barrister is conducting the advocacy for you and the case is straightforward, attendance by a solicitor may well not be necessary.

Barristers’ fees for representing you at the hearing are not included within the above fee estimate. They are additional disbursements which must be paid by you, and we may require this payment before the actual hearing. We do not control the level of barristers’ fees, which vary according to the seniority of the barrister, but we will try to provide you with more than one option. Barristers’ fees, including preparation, are estimated between £850 plus VAT @ 20% and £3,500 plus VAT @ 20% per day, depending on their level of experience.

Wrongful Dismissal (for employers and employees)

Wrongful dismissal claims are claims for notice pay, and may be pursued in the Employment Tribunal, subject to a compensation limit of £25,000.

Our work will be charged at the above hourly rates. Assuming that a wrongful dismissal hearing is likely to be one day, our fees to represent you in relation to a standalone wrongful dismissal claim are likely to be between £4,500 plus VAT @ 20% and £12,000 plus VAT @ 20%.

As explained above, there will be an additional fee for a barrister to represent you at the hearing. We cannot control barristers’ fees, but we estimate that they are likely to be between £850 plus VAT @ 20% and £3,500 plus VAT @ 20% for a one day wrongful dismissal hearing.

Work Included in our Fee Estimate

The above fee estimates cover the work involved in the key stages of a Tribunal claim:

• Taking your instructions, reviewing the information and documentation available, and providing advice on merits and likely compensation
• Starting the ACAS early conciliation process (employee clients)
• Representing you in relation to settlement negotiations, during the early conciliation process and throughout
• Drafting and submitting your claim (employee clients) and response (employer clients)
• Reviewing and advising on claim or response from the other party
• Preparing for and representing you at a Preliminary Hearing, at which the Employment Judge will set a timetable for the preparation of the case
• Complying with Tribunal Orders, including preparing a schedule of loss (employee clients) or counter schedule (employer clients), collating, reviewing and providing all relevant documents to the other party, agreeing a file of documents, contacting witnesses, drafting witness statements and agreeing their content with the witnesses/span>
• Reviewing prospects of succeeding with the claim (employee clients) or successfully defending the claim (employer clients) at appropriate intervals, together with likely compensation, and providing advice
• Completing all preparation for the Tribunal Hearing, including chronology and list of issues if required.
• Preparing and responding to correspondence with the Employment Tribunal and the other party throughout.
• Briefing a barrister so they have all the information required to represent you at the Tribunal Hearing, and attending the hearing alongside the barrister if required.

Timescales

The amount of time an unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal claim will take largely depends upon whether a settlement can be achieved and how quickly. If a settlement can be agreed during the early conciliation process, your case is likely to take between 2 and 6 weeks.

However, if a settlement cannot be achieved, the timescale varies depending on the particular Employment Tribunal dealing with your case and the number of Tribunal claims they are dealing with at any one time. The likely length of the hearing will also be a factor. As a guide, most claims will take between 6 and 12 months from submission of the claim to the Tribunal hearing and receipt of the Tribunal’s judgment.