Solicitors Regulation Authority Transparency Rules 2018

Unfair Dismissal and/or Wrongful Dismissal claims Employment Tribunal Litigation
The following information is provided in accordance with the SRA Transparency Rules 2018.
In matters involving actual litigation for wrongful and/or Unfair Dismissal claims by clients in the
Employment Tribunal clients are charged simply according to the amount of chargeable time
incurred at a rate which of course changes from time to time and which clients will be notified of
before they instruct this Firm. Currently, our hourly charge out rate is £285 an hour plus VAT at
20%.
Most such cases of course do not proceed all the way through to the conclusion of a full
Employment Tribunal Hearing but are settled by the parties before that. For a simple matter
which does go all the way through to the conclusion of the Tribunal litigation, Solicitors fees for
this on the basis that the matter is not complex and involves only a one day Final Employment
Tribunal Hearing will tend to be in the region of £15,000 (plus VAT at 20%). The amount of time
that has to be incurred of course is strongly influenced by the individual facts of each individual
case. Solicitors’ fees for claims for Wrongful Dismissal alone will tend to be less than this. The
amount of chargeable Solicitor’s time that has to be incurred varies of course according to
matters such as (a) the number of witnesses called by both sides, and the number of Witness
Statements that therefore have to be drafted or studied relating to them, (b) the amount of
documentary evidence that is put before the Employment Tribunal, (c) whether there are any
preliminary issues which legally need to be determined (which may or may not result in a
Preliminary Hearing in the Employment Tribunal before any Final Hearing) (d) whether it is
necessary to make or defend applications to amend Claims or Reponses (e) whether it is
necessary to apply for or respond to a request for further information pursuant to Rule 31 of The
Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013 (f) whether it is
necessary to make of defend a costs application and so on. These factors which can
necessitate the incurrence of further legal time are set out by way of example only.
The fees set out above will tend to cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of
a claim:
•​Taking a client’s initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising on merits and likely
compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
•​Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can
be reached
•​Preparing claim or response
•​Reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party
•​Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
•​preparing or considering a schedule of loss
•​Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
•​Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
•​preparing bundle of documents
•​Reviewing and advising on the other party's witness statements

•​agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
•​Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel

It is impossible to set out a timescale for the above stages because some of them are as
Ordered by the Employment Tribunal which will vary from case to case. Moreover, most cases
of course do not go all the way through to a Final Employment Tribunal Hearing but are settled
before this by the parties, and the point at which they are settled of course varies case by case.
In terms of the Listing of a date for a Final Employment Tribunal Hearing if required, this varies
at any time according to the case load of each individual Employment Tribunal. These matters
will be discussed with all clients on an individual basis. There is therefore no “standard” time
frame for an Employment Tribunal claim, every claim has its own characteristics which will
impact upon timings, plus there are the added dynamics of the current pressure on the
Employment Tribunal system which, in some cases, can lead to a delay of many months in
cases proceeding to Hearing(s). The time taken depends on a number of factors, including the
issues in dispute and their complexity, the number of Hearings required and their duration and
the number of parties to the claim. Currently however, for a 1/2 day Full Hearing the timescale
between lodging a claim in the Employment Tribunal and having the Full Hearing will tend to be
in the region of 12 months.
For those cases that do proceed all the way through to a Final Employment Tribunal Hearing,
Counsel’s fees may be incurred if a Barrister is instructed to appear as a client’s actual
advocate in the Hearing. Counsel’s fees vary, according to the seniority of the Barrister
instructed, and any Counsel’s fees will be notified to clients and agreed with them in advance of
that Barrister being instructed. A very junior Barrister may charge a Brief Fee in the region of
something like £750 plus VAT at 20 % to include preparation for and attending a one day Final
Employment Tribunal Hearing but obviously more senior Counsel will charge more than this.
If a simple case does proceed all the way through to conclusion and involves more than a one
day Final Employment Tribunal Hearing or if a case is more complex, then fees would be
greater than those set out above and this of course would be discussed with clients in advance
and as the litigation evolves and progresses.
In reality of course, most cases do not go all the way through to a Final Employment Tribunal
Hearing, in which case of course fees may be considerably less than those referred to above.