Unfair or Wrongful Dismissal - Employees

Our guide for pricing for pursuing claims brought in the Employment Tribunal is below. Each case is different and specific to individual circumstances, therefore fees will reflect your particular case.

We do not take cases on a ‘no win no fee’ basis.

Cost ranges:

With this in mind, our fees for providing representation to our clients can also vary. The following is an illustration of what clients can realistically expect their costs to be when instructing us to represent them in claims for unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal, subject to a number of assumptions.

The majority of the Employment Tribunal work we undertake is charged on a time-spent basis at our standard hourly rates:-

• Partner – £395 plus VAT
• Solicitors and qualified Legal executives – £215 – £300 plus VAT
• Trainee Solicitor – £165 plus VAT
• Paralegal – £165 plus VAT

Where possible, we may agree to undertake elements of the work on a fixed fee basis, including where we have agreed a “price and slice” approach, where we have agreed pricing for different tasks associated with the claim, which would typically include:

• Initial advice/ACAS conciliation
• Drafting the ET1 claim form
• Preparation for and attendance at a Preliminary Hearing
• Collation of documents and disclosure
• Bundle Preparation
• Preparation of witness statements
• Preparation for final hearing

Likely Costs:

As a guide, typically our pricing for bringing claims for unfair and/or wrongful dismissal in an employment tribunal (excluding disbursements)and with no additional claims are:

• Wrongful dismissal claim: £5,000 – £8,000 (excluding VAT)
• Basic unfair dismissal case: £10,000-£15,000 (excluding VAT)
• Medium to high complexity case and/or combined unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal: £12,000-£30,000 (excluding VAT)

Factors that could make a case more complex:

• If it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim.
• The expertise, professionalism, attitude and behaviour of the Respondent or their representative.
• Making a costs application
• Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed upon by the parties)
• The number of witnesses required
• The volume and complexity of documents
• If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim, e.g. if the claimant is dismissed for whistleblowing
• Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal
• If settlement is involved and the willingness of the parties to settle and at what stage
• Any delays, postponements and/or adjournments.

Generally, we would allow 1-5 days in the Employment Tribunal depending on the complexity of your case.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties. In cases such as this, most commonly barrister’s fees for representing you at tribunal. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf but may require money on account from you to do this.

Experts’ reports are very rarely required in these types of claims but any costs would be separate and in addition to that indicated here.

No other disbursements usually apply to these types of claims.

Barrister’s fees are likely to be between £1,500-£7,000 plus VAT, depending on type and length of hearing and experience of the advocate for attending a tribunal Hearing (including preparation).

Key stages

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 (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
• Entering into pre-claim conciliation through Acas (now mandatory) to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
• Preparing and issuing the claim
• Reviewing and advising on responses from the other party
• Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
• Preparing or considering a schedule of loss
• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
• Preparing a list and exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing on a bundle of documents
• Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing on their content with witnesses
• Preparing an index and 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 to Counsel

The stages set out above are an indication, and if some of the stages above are not required, the fee will reflect that. You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can be arranged in appropriate cases.

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. If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take 4-12 weeks.

It is difficult to estimate how long a case will take to conclude to a final hearing and there is no fixed timescale for this. At this time due to the significant backlogs and time pressures most Employment Tribunals are under, a one day wrongful dismissal claim may be heard within one year of the claim form being issued, but it is more likely that a longer hearing may not be heard for closer to two years after the claim form was issued.

Other matters:

It is important to appreciate there is generally a no costs rule in the Employment Tribunal and costs are only awarded in a small number of cases. Whilst there are some limited exceptions, this means that if you are successful in Employment Tribunal proceedings, you are unlikely to recover any of your costs from the losing party. Conversely, if you are unsuccessful, you are unlikely to have to pay any of the costs of the successful party.

You may wish to explore whether any additional funding options are available to you. For example, you may have legal expenses cover within an existing insurance policy.

We will consider taking on claims where our fees are met by an insurer. We will usually need to discuss this with you as they may not provide sufficient sums to cover our fees.

All prices are correct at the time of publication – July 2025