Employment Law Pricing (Businesses)

Who will deal with your case

Chris Dewey is the head of our Employment department and will be responsible for handling your case. He has been working in this area for more than 20 years, leading some of our most high-profile cases to a successful conclusion. Chris is assisted by Chartered Legal Executive Claire Clark and staff who are supervised by Chris Dewey. This means the quality of our advice is not affected, regardless of who is working on your case. Chris has dealt with many hundreds of Employment cases both for the claimant and defendant over the years and spends his time split between Employment and Personal Injury work. The types of Employment cases Chris has dealt with range from straightforward dismissal cases to sexual discrimination cases. Chris has a proven track record in achieving successful outcomes for clients.

Defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal

Our pricing estimate for bringing and defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal is based on assessing your specific circumstances, and estimate to complete each stage. Our charges are based on our estimate of time at the hourly rate of the person carrying out the work, which would range from £110 to £250 plus VAT per hour. A straight forward case might cost between £2,500 - £6,000 plus VAT and disbursements, with more complex cases increasing the cost.

Factors that could make a case more complex include:

• If it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim
• Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person
• Making or defending a costs application
• Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties)
• The number of witnesses and documents
• If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if you are dismissed after blowing the whistle on your employer
• Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal

Disbursements

Disbursements 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.

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 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
• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
• Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
• 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
• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
• 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

The stages set out above are an indication and if some of stages above are not required, the fee will be reduced. You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can also be arranged 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. If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take 1-3 months. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 6-12 months. 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.

Settlement Agreements

We can offer a fixed price to prepare a Settlement Agreement for your employees.

Our fee for preparing the agreement normally ranges from £750 - £2,500 plus VAT, depending on the complexity of the arrangements being made and whether the employee has issued a claim (in which case the fee may be higher).

Employment contracts

A straight forward single employment contract would cost from £500 plus VAT, with a higher fee for more complex arrangements.

Click here to visit our Employment Law for Businesses page to learn more.