Employment Cases – Range of Costs

Employment Law: changed at an hourly rate of £200 + VAT plus disbursements

Assisting you with a Compromise Agreement.  Whereby you and your Employer informally agree on termination of your employment, on documented and agreed terms.      Costs are usually £350-£500 + VAT; for which the Employer will make a contribution, if not pay the full amount.

Employment Tribunals – Range of Costs

Our pricing for bringing and defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal:

• Simple case: £7,000 -£9,5,00 (excluding VAT)

• Medium complexity case: £9,500 - £20,000 (excluding VAT)

• High complexity case: £20,000 – above: unlikely to exceed £75,000 (excluding VAT)

What could make a case more complex:

• Any necessary applications to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information

• Defending claims brought by litigants in person

• Making or defending a costs application

• Dealing with complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties)

• Numerous witnesses and/or documents

• If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if the claimant has been dismissed after blowing the whistle on their employer

• Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal. Cases with multiple applicants/respondents. high-value cases

In Employment Tribunal  cases it is only in very exceptional cases that an award of costs in favour of the winning party is made and the general rule is that each party is responsible for their own costs regardless of success

An Employment Tribunal hearing can last between half a day to 10 days, depending on the complexity of the case. You have the option to ask us to instruct a barrister to conduct the advocacy in an Employment Tribunal case.

However, all our qualified solicitors can conduct advocacy themselves. If it is necessary to instruct a barrister,  additional fees of between could be £750 to £2,500 per day (depending on experience of the advocate) + VAT.  Will be incurred

There may also be an additional charge to have a junior solicitor attend the Employment Tribunal Hearing to accompany the barrister; the cost there could be up to £1,500 per day (excluding VAT).

The scope of work & the fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:

• Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (we will re-examine that throughout the matter and it could change)

• Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is required; 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 including drafting a settlement agreement

• Preparing or considering a schedule of loss

• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing including preparing a list of issues and dealing with preliminary case management and other issues

• Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing on 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 on a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list

• Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions and/or a skeleton argument to barrister

• Making you aware of the progress of the case and are regularly updated.

The stages set out above are an indication only. If some of stages above are not required, the fee will be reduced. This can arise if the case is able to be settled at an early stage. There is also the possibility of some or all elements of the claim being struck out at an early stage. You may wish to handle some aspects of the claim yourself and only have our advice/ support in relation to some of the stages. This can also be arranged depending on your individual needs.

How long will my matter take? The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved.

A settlement reached during pre-claim conciliation could take 2 to 6 weeks. If the case does not settle during the pre-claim conciliation period, it may still be possible to reach a settlement at a later stage. It may also be possible to win the case at an early stage, if the Employment Tribunal decides the claim is out of time or the claimant has little prospects of success.

If your claim proceeds to a final hearing, it could take 9 to 12 months, at least.  This is because of the timetable set by the Employment Tribunal Service. Please note that these timescales are estimates.   We will be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information about your specific case.

Details of lawyers who may work on your case:

• Melanie Bevan-Evans
• Gaynor Davies
• Christopher Scroggs

Melanie, Gaynor and Christopher deal with all categories of the case and are qualified Solicitors.  Christopher is only likely to be involved in Probate matters if they become contentious  - Any solicitors working on the case are charged at £200 + VAT

Details of supervisors:

Melanie Bevan Evans and Gaynor Davies undertake supervision of matters conducted by our other lawyers.

Compromise agreements - there is usually a fixed fee payable by the employer for independent legal advice for the employee which is a requirement of the Compromise Agreement.  We will be paid by the employer, generally the sum of £350 plus VAT.  We limit the fee on such Compromise Agreements to this sum, unless the matter does become unduly protracted.

Disbursements.   These are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. In employment tribunal claims there are no court fees and it is very unusual to have disbursements in straightforward cases. The exception is where expert evidence is required.

Cost transparency is important to Bevan-Evans & Capehorn

Where possible we aim to offer a fixed fee for our services. However, if the case is unduly protracted/complicated an additional hourly rate will be applicable.
Due to the nature of legal cases, there may be occasions where unforeseen complexity in your case arises or the case requires additional work, we will inform you and provide a revised quote of costs.

Any factors that may potentially affect the costs in your case will be made clear at the initial consultation. If there are any factors that you believe may increase the costs, please let us know.