Employment

For employees – Our employment team is always at hand to guide you at any stage of your employment.  This includes services freom the start of your emplaoyment such as reviewing your employment contract to representation in Tribunal claims.

We provide assitance in the following particular areas:

• Unfair dismissal claims
• Constructive dismissal claims
• Discrimination at work claims
• Contracts (including drafting, review and dispute resolution)
• Settlement agreements
• Redundancy
• Unlawful deduction from wages
• Rights relating to sickness at work
• Suspension from work
• Grievances and disciplinaries
• Bullying and harassment
• Representation in Tribunal

For employers – We can advise you about the best way to deal with any member of staff who breaches the terms of their contract. In a disciplinary action, we can assist in protecting your interests and minimise the risk your staff making a claim against you.

Our fees

In genaral, for a solicitor with over 8 years’ post qualification experience, we limit our costs to a maximum of £250.00 plus VAT down to a trainee solicitor charged at £125.00 plus VAT per hour. VAT is currently charged at a rate of 20%. The seniority of the members of staff dealing with your case will depend on its complexity. We will discuss this with you when you instruct us.

All time is recorded so you are charged only for the work which is done and you will be provided with copies of the time records should you require them. We also provide you with regular invoices (usually monthly) so that you are aware of the costs being incurred as the case progresses.

If we are acting for you in a tribunal claim, it can cost in the region of £7500.00 plus VAT to £8000.00 plus VAT for a wrongful dismissal or an unfair dismissal claim and between £10000.00 plus VAT to £12000.00 plus VAT for discrimination claims. These figures are preliminary estimates only. Costs could be higher or lower than this estimate. This will depend upon how the case progresses and how complex the case is. Costs will be less if the case settles early.

Factors which impact on the above fee estimates and increase costs include the following:

• the complexity of the issues
• the value of the claim
• the volume of documents
• the number of claimants and whether they are legally represented
• the number of respondents and whether they are legally represented
• the number of witnesses
• whether it is necessary to make or oppose applications for orders from the Tribunal
• the number of preliminary hearings ahead of the final hearing
• any subsequent remedy hearing if required.

If tribunal proceedings are necessary, the cost of representing you in a Tribunal claim could be less than the preliminary estimates given above if the case settles early or if the case does not proceed to the final hearing for any reason.

The above also illustrates that the costs could be significantly higher, depending upon the facts of the case.

Key Stages in a Tribunal Proceeding

The above estimates anticipate the following key stages in a Tribunal proceeding:

• Taking initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising on merits, weaknesses and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change).
• Preparing and filing a claim and/or a response.
• Reviewing and advising on claim or response from the other party.
• Preparing the schedule of losses and/or considering and advising on the claimant’s schedule of loss.
• Preparing for and/or attending preliminary hearing.
• Exploring settlement as and when appropriate throughout the process.
• Collating and considering relevant documents and exchanging documents
• Considering and advising on the other side’s documents.
• Agreeing and preparing a bundle of documents for the final hearing.
• Taking, preparing/drafting and exchanging witness statements and considering and advising on the content of the other side’s statement(s).
• Agreeing a list of issues to be decided by the Tribunal at the final hearing, a chronology and/or list (where appropriate).
• Preparation for and attendance at the final hearing and advising on outcome. Instructing Counsel to attend the hearing if deemed appropriate.

If any of the above steps are not necessary, costs could be less than the estimates provided above.

Potential Disbursements

There should be no additional disbursements where we are trying to negotiate a settlement for you, except in very rare circumstances where we need to seek additional expert advice from Counsel. You will always be notified first if you wish to incur such a disbursement or not.

Disbursements are expenses related to your case which are payable to third parties. Tribunal fees have been abolished but they may be re-introduced in the future.

Other likely disbursements in tribunal claims are experts’ fees and counsel’ fees. The amount a counsel charges will depend upon his seniority and the complexity of your case and these would be agreed with you in advance. Counsel’s fees are estimated between £500.00 to £1500.00 per day (depending on experience) for attending a Tribunal hearing.

Timescales

Many cases are capable of being settled within a few weeks or even days from when we are first instructed, and so the fees can often be contained. Of course it can take longer than this and in some cases where we are entering into negotiations, this can go on  for months. This is something which is not in our control as it will largely be governed by how quickly communications are responded.

If Tribunal proceedings are necessary, the time that it takes from taking initial instructions to the final hearing and/or resolution of a matter depends largely on the stage at which the case is resolved. If, for example, a settlement is reached during before the issue of the claim, the case is likely to take four to six weeks. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

If the claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, then its likely duration depends how complex the issues are and how long the hearing is estimated to last and/or when it can be listed by the Employment Tribunal. For example, a simple wrongful dismissal claim with a time estimate of half a day is likely to take around three to four months to complete. In contrast, a complex unfair or constructive dismissal claim or a discrimination claim scheduled to be heard over three or more days could take 12 months or more to conclude.

This is illustrative only and we can give more accurate timescales when we have more information as the matter progresses.

Legal Expenses Insurance

You may have an insurance policy under which your insurer may be liable to cover your legal costs in this matter, provided that they are satisfied that your claim has more than 50% chances of success. We therefore recommend that you check your insurance policies. We will discuss this with you in a fixed fee initial consultation.

The cover may provide that you should instruct the insurer’s panel solicitor. However, you are in fact entitled to instruct a solicitor of your choice from the date an ACAS Conciliation Certificate is issued. We will guide you through this process.

Fees Options

In some cases, we offer clients a method of funding their claim by way of capped or fixed fees whereby we agree in advance a fixed fee for particular stages of your claim. This method has the advantage of you knowing precisely how much you will have to pay in advance. These arrangements are agreed with clients on a case by case basis.

For non-contentious settlement agreement work paid by an employer, we charge £500.00 plus VAT as a fixed fee.