Employment Tribunal Costs - Kleyman & Co. Solicitors

Kleyman & Co. have extensive experience in employment matters. Many of our clients come to us for contracts, staff handbooks and advice on how to deal with conduct, dismissal or redundancy matters, whether employers or employees. We have also acted on numerous matters which have gone to Tribunal. This includes running the country’s biggest claim for disability discrimination, although we are also no stranger to smaller more routine cases, such as unlawful deduction of wages, unfair dismissal and wrongful termination. Although we often instruct counsel for larger matters, many members of the team have appeared before Tribunals themselves, either in person or at remote hearings.

If you require advice in relation to an employment matter without knowing the details of the case it is impossible to provide an accurate estimate of costs. We offer a free consultation service of up to an hour to help you understand the costs involved with your matter. If you then decide to instruct us, then we will provide you with a cost estimate at an hourly rate of £480 (including VAT at 20%).

To help you understand the likely costs of an employment tribunal we have listed the different steps involved and the costs related to each step.

We will draft your ET1 (claim form for an Employment Tribunal) (£2,500 (including VAT at 20%)). How long this would take us depends on how fast you can provide us with the information we need, and whether we are instructing Counsel for you. It may also depend on how close you are to the deadline for issuing proceedings (which must be presented to the Tribunal within three months less one day of the effective date of dismissal). However, on an average case we would expect to be able to produce this for you within a few days to a week depending on the complexity of the case. Once the proceedings have been issued, it is impossible to say how long it will take the Tribunal to issue the claim, with current backlogs being up to six months depending on which Tribunal you are in.
Receiving and considering an ET3 (response to ET1 claim) (£1,500 (including VAT at 20%)). As above, this will depend on all of the facts of the case, but we would usually expect to be able to review it within a week of receipt. Once the ET3 has been served, the next step is usually for the Tribunal to set a directions hearing, which should take place around three to six months later, although we have had experience of this taking over a year despite us chasing.
Directions hearing if applicable (which we estimate to be £1,000 (including VAT at 20%) plus travel). As explained above, this is issued by the Tribunal and can take some months to be listed. Whilst it is rare for it to take more than a year, we have had experience of a case where the directions hearing was aborted twice by the Tribunal due to mistakes on their part, and only finally came before the Court nearly two years after the initial claim was issued.
Preparing documents (estimated to be £2,500 (including VAT at 20%)). Disclosure is an ongoing process throughout the life of a set of proceedings, and so has no specific time frame, but the majority of the documents that we have to prepare will be ordered during the Directions hearing or by order of the Tribunal, at a time scale that the Tribunal sets. A common timeframe is around 4 weeks from the date of the order, which is usually made at the Directions hearing. The parties can agree to take longer, or can ask the Tribunal more time if, for example, the date coincides with holidays such as the Christmas period.
Drafting witness statements (estimated to be £5,000 (including VAT at 20%)). The time frame for producing witness statements is also ordered by the Tribunal, either at the Directions hearing or when the file is reviewed by the court. It is common for it to be ordered for witness statements to be exchanged around 4 to 6 weeks after disclosure has taken place but, again the parties can agree to a longer time frame or ask the Tribunal for more time.
Considering the other sides witness statements (estimated to be £2,500 (including VAT at 20%)). Depending on the length of the statements, we would normally expect to review them and let a client have those views within 2 to 3 weeks of receipt of the same from the other side.
General preparation for hearing (trial preparation if no bundles – £3,500 (including VAT at 20%)). This is an ongoing process throughout the proceedings, so there is no specific time frame for this work.
Trial prep if you are responsible for the bundles (estimated £7,000 (including VAT at 20%)). We would usually leave this as late as possible before the final hearing, so as not to incur costs unnecessarily for the client in the hope that the matter might settle before this becomes necessary. Usually bundles have to be lodged at court around a week before the final hearing, and the consents have to be agreed with the other side in advance. On an average case we would look to start on this preparation around three weeks before the start of the trial.
Instructions and Brief to Counsel where appropriate (£1,500 (including VAT at 20%) for every occasion they are required). These are prepared as and when appropriate, with the aim of submitting them to the barrister around 2 days before a hearing, or shortly before any specific advice or assistance is required.
Counsel fees (hourly rate in region of £450 (including VAT at 20%)), which is a disbursement. These are payable at the time that the brief or instructions are submitted, and quotes will be given in advance.
Trial (£4,000 (including VAT at 20%)). This date is set by the Tribunal depending on the length of the case and the availability of the Court. We would hope to have a matter before a Tribunal within a year of proceedings being issued, but based on more recent experiences, some cases are taking more than twice that time to get to a final hearing, due to Tribunal backlogs which are beyond our control.
Additional counsel fee for every other day of trial (around £2,000 (including VAT at 20%)). Payable in advance.
Liaise with Tribunal to get written judgment and advise on appeal if appropriate (£2,000 (including VAT at 20%)). This will occur immediately after the hearing.
Correspondence with the employer/employee or their Solicitors (£1,500 (including VAT at 20%)). This is ongoing work, which will be undertaken from time to time during the course of a case. Usually we would expect to respond to the other side within a week of them writing to us, but this depends on a number of factors, including how soon we receive instructions from our client, and whether, tactically, it is better to wait.

In addition to the above costs, once having obtained the judgment there may be further costs associated with enforcing that judgment.

The above does not include a potential enforcement fee that may be necessary.

All employment work will be undertaken by a member of our team.

Persons responsible for the work include:

Stephanie Kleyman (admitted as a solicitor in 1997)
Shivani Varma (admitted as a solicitor in 2014)
William Couchman (admitted as a solicitor in 2019)
Caoimhe Leece (admitted as a solicitor in 2022)
Ellie Murray (admitted as a solicitor in 2022)

To view their profile, please see the Meet the Team section of the website for details.

More information on our Employment Tribunal service