Employment Pricing & Timescales

Pricing, timescales and key stages for bringing and defending claims for Unfair or Wrongful dismissal

Pricing

We charge for this type of work on an hourly basis. This is because all our clients' cases are different. The hourly rates of our staff who may be working on your file are:-

Partners	£285.00 plus VAT £57.00 (Total £342.00)
Solicitors	£278.00 plus VAT £55.60 (Total £333.60)
Legal Executives	£233 plus VAT £26.60 (Total £279.60)
Administration Assistants/Paralegals	£134.00 plus VAT £26.80 (Total £160.80)

Advising and preparing a case for a hearing or trial including the hearing trial itself will involve an amount of work depending on the issues involved, the complexity of the case, the amount of documentation and the number of witnesses.

In a simple case with a one-day hearing, the amount of work is likely to be in the range of 25 to 35 hours.

In a medium complexity case with a two-day hearing, the amount of work is likely to be in the range of 40 to 55 hours.

In a high complexity case involving a hearing of more than two days, the additional work is likely to be not less than 65 hours.

There will be an additional charge for attending a tribunal hearing. We will generally instruct appropriate counsel to represent you. We will discuss suitable counsel with you and suggest counsel with skill and experience appropriate to your case, given the issues involved and the value of the claim. If we are to attend the tribunal or court hearing with counsel we are likely to be engaged for 6 to 10 hours for each day of the hearing including travel time. Counsel’s fees for attending a trial or hearing are likely to be in the range of £1,500.00 plus VAT £300.00 (Total £1,800.00) to £3,500.00 plus VAT £700.00 (Total £4,200.00) for the first day of the hearing (including preparation), depending upon the experience of the counsel.  Counsel’s fees for attending on subsequent days will be in the region of £1,000.00 plus VAT £200.00 (Total £1,200.00) - £2,000.00 plus VAT £400.00 (Total £2,400.00) per day.

If there are any preliminary hearings additional fees will be incurred. Most preliminary hearings will take no more than one day and these additional fees (our charges and Counsel’s fees) will be in line with those indicated above.

These estimates are only guidelines based upon our experience in dealing with these cases. Factors that could make a case more complex are: –

• the need 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.
• cases with complex preliminary issues.
• the number of witnesses and the amount of documentation.
• if it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim.
• if there are allegations of discrimination that are linked to the dismissal.

The estimate of the time that your case will take and the indication of fees do not include: –

• advice or assistance in relation to any appeal

Key Stages

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

• taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising 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 the claim or response;
• reviewing and advising on the claim or response 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;
• 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 bundles of documents;
• reviewing and advising on the other parties’ witness statements;
• agreeing on a list of issues, a chronology and a case list;
• preparation and attendance at a final hearing including instructions to counsel

The above stages are an indication only and if some of these stages are not required the fee will be reduced. If a case settles substantial work and costs can be saved. The earlier a case settles the greater the cost savings.

Timescales

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 between 6 to 10 weeks,

If your claim proceeds to a final hearing your case is likely to take between 6 and 15 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. A key factor in the length of time for a case to be concluded will be the availability of the Court or Tribunal to hear the case, whether there will need to be a preliminary hearing and the number of witnesses to be called.