If you are looking to instruct us to assist you in making a claim for unfair or wrongful dismissal, we may offer the following funding options for these matters:
- A Conditional Fee Agreement (“CFA”), also known as a ‘no win no fee’ agreement. We may offer to act for you on a CFA basis if we believe that your case is sufficiently viable. We usually take no longer than two weeks to assess the viability of a case. We would not usually charge you for this assessment, unless your case is particularly complex. If we agree to act for you on a CFA basis, we shall talk you through the proposed agreement. However, in short, if your claim is successful then we would be entitled to an uplift of up to 100% on our base costs (hourly charges). If your claim is not successful, we would not be entitled to any of our base costs (hourly charges).
- Alternatively, you may wish to instruct us to act for you on a private paying basis, whereby we would charge you at our hourly rates for the work done. We can discuss this option with you in more detail if you would like further information. However, as a broad guide, our costs on a private paying basis for making an unfair or wrongful dismissal claim are roughly:
- Around £2,500 to £4,000 (excluding VAT and disbursements) for a simple case.
- Around £5,000 to £10,000 (excluding VAT and disbursements) for a non-simple case.
- Around £20,000 to £40,000 (excluding VAT and disbursements) for a complex case.
These costs estimates do not include us attending a Tribunal Hearing on your behalf. We usually charge between £2,000 and £4,000 plus VAT per day for this, again depending on the complexity of your case, and the experience of the attending advocate.
Please note that the current rate of VAT is 20%. These funding options and estimates do not involve any appeal. As a rough guide, some factors that might increase the complexity of your case include instructing us in the middle of an ongoing matter; the number of witnesses and documents involved; and when allegations of discrimination are made alongside the dismissal.
Some other funding options available include damages-based agreements, public legal aid funding, pro-bono funding, or funding through your trade union. We do not offer these funding options, but you may wish to seek out other firms that do so. You may also be able to fund your case using Legal Expenses Insurance, which you may have as part of your household contents or car insurance policies.
If you are an employer looking to instruct us to help you defend a claim against you for unfair or wrongful dismissal, please note that we may only be instructed on a private paying basis whereby we would charge you at our hourly rates for the work done. We can discuss this option with you in more detail if you would like further information. However, as a broad guide, our costs on a private paying basis for defending an unfair or wrongful dismissal case are roughly:
- Around £2,500 to £4,000 (excluding VAT and disbursements) for a simple case.
- Around £5,000 to £10,000 (excluding VAT and disbursements) for a non-simple case.
- Around £20,000 to £40,000 (excluding VAT and disbursements) for a complex case.
These costs estimates do not include us attending a Tribunal Hearing on your behalf. We usually charge between £2,000 and £4,000 plus VAT per day for this, again depending on the complexity of your case, and the experience of the attending advocate.
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties. The main disbursements in an employment matter are court fees. We handle the payment of disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Depending on the funding option that you choose, we may require you to pay disbursements upfront.
Key Stages
The following are the likely key stages of a claim for unfair or wrongful dismissal:
- 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
- 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 only, and not all will always be required. You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. Please contact us to discuss further if this is how you are looking to proceed.
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 around four weeks. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 14-26 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. As to when an Employment Tribunal fixes a hearing is of course outside our control.
Who will handle my matter?
Gavin Edmondson is the principal of our firm and supervises all employment matters that we handle. He will mainly be assisted by our paralegals and trainee solicitors, who would always act only under his supervision. One of our other solicitors may also work on your matter. Again, they would always act under the supervision of Gavin Edmondson.
