Employment Tribunals Individuals Fees

Prior to hearing the exact details of your matter, it is not possible to provide an exact indication of costs but below is a general guide to costs for each stage of an Employment Tribunal claim:

• Preparation and submission of a claim: £1,500 to £2,000
• Reviewing the response form when a claim has been made against you (ET3 response): £250 to £500
• Preparation for and attendance at a Pre Hearing Review: £1,000 to £1,500
• Dealing with disclosure of documents, to include drafting a list of documents and agreeing a bundle of documents: £2,000 to £3,000
• Drafting and exchanging witness statements
  – Claimant’s main statement: £2,000 to £3,000
  – Additional witness statements: £500 to £1,000
• Drafting a statement of issues and/or chronology: £1,000 to £2,000
• Preparation for and attendance at a one day hearing: £4,000 to £5,000
• Estimated Grand Total: £12,250 to £18,000

Please note that all of the above estimates are exclusive of VAT and disbursements (including court fees listed below), Counsel’s fees and travel expenses, etc.

The above estimates do not include correspondence with other parties which, if excessive, can increase costs significantly. To give you an idea of total costs for a typical Employment Tribunal matter involving a one day hearing, you can usually expect to incur around £20,000 as a minimum.

We also normally request that you make a payment on account of fees at the start of your matter which is usually around £2,500 (+ vat).

In the Employment Tribunal, rules about the payment of costs generally mean that each side will pay their own costs whether they win or lose. This rule is made more complicated where there are issues about of the conduct of the parties, or whether an unreasonable claim has been pursued.

Many claims do not progress all the way to a final hearing as they are settled beforehand, although we cannot guarantee that this will happen in your case.

Please note we do not take on ‘no win, no fee’ employment cases. However, it is always advisable to check whether you have the benefit of legal expense insurance. It is usually offered as an additional benefit on insurance policies that you already have in place, such as house contents insurance, credit card insurance, etc. If you do have such cover, this may mean that all, or at least some, of your legal fees will be paid by your insurers. However, you should note that your insurers will most likely make it a condition of cover that you instruct their panel solicitors.

Alternatively, if they consent to you continuing to instruct our lawyers to deal with your claim, their rates may not cover their hourly rate and consequently there may still be a shortfall which you will be liable to pay.

To obtain a bespoke quote, please contact a member of our Employment Law team on employment@woodfines.co.uk