We help resolve all sorts of employment law and HR issues for our clients, delivering practical and commercial solutions which free them up so they can get back down to business.  

From a quick query to strategic employment advice or employment litigation, we can help.  

We have over 20 years’ experience of providing expert employment law advice to employers including charities, sole traders, private and public limited companies, partnerships, unincorporated associations and local authorities.  Our specialist expertise spans a range of sectors including: 

• Professional services

• Technology & Telecoms

• Engineering & Manufacturing

• Digital, Creative & Media

• Sport

We advise on all aspects of the employment relationship including:

• Workplace discrimination

• Termination of employment

• Unfair / constructive / wrongful dismissal

• Bullying & stress at work

• Sickness & absence management

• Family related rights

• Holiday pay issues

• M&A, outsourcing & TUPE

• Restructuring & redundancy

• HR policies & procedures

• Employment Tribunal claims

We also provide training on various employment law topics and provide regular updates on key developments in the ever changing employment law landscape.

Defending Employment Tribunal claims

Should you receive an employment-related claim, you can rely on us to provide clear advice from the start - on your prospects of a successful defence, the likely exposure to compensation if the claim were to succeed, the likely costs and risks if you proceed and any tactical considerations. Where settlement is a possibility, we will use our experience to negotiate the best possible terms.  A large number of the cases we handle are resolved to our clients’ satisfaction without the need for an Employment Tribunal hearing.

Where litigation is unavoidable, we have the expertise to conduct Employment Tribunal advocacy ourselves and tend to do so at preliminary hearings, instructing a barrister for any final hearings. We will fight your corner robustly and effectively and have a high success rate. We always seek to keep our costs proportionate to the potential financial compensation available. Our experience representing both employers and employees positions us to provide the best strategic advice to you because we can better anticipate the claimant’s next moves.

We are highly skilled in defending Employment Tribunal claims and have a high success rate. Your defence will be handled by James Moss.

Fees

We advise on a wide range of employment issues, including unfair and wrongful dismissal claims in the Employment Tribunal. The fee information below is that required by the SRA Transparency Rules in relation to unfair and wrongful dismissal claims in the Employment Tribunal only:

Simple case: £5,000-£8,000 plus VAT (VAT is currently 20%)

Medium complexity case: £8,000-£12,000 plus VAT

High complexity case: £12,000-£15,000 plus VAT

Factors that could make a case more complex:

• if it is necessary to make applications to amend any response or provide further information about an existing response;

• defending claims that are brought by litigants in person;

• where the claimant and/or the claimant’s solicitor/other representative is acting vexatiously, abusively, disruptively or otherwise unreasonably in the bringing or conducting of the proceedings, or a part of them;

• defending claims that are brought against more than one potential employer;

• making a counter-claim;

• making or defending a costs or other application;

• complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties), who is the correct employer, whether the claim was submitted in time, or whether the Employment Tribunal has jurisdiction because of where the employer or the employee are based;

• high volume of documents (hearing bundle exceeds 175 pages);

• more than 4 witnesses in total;

• if it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim (e.g. dismissal due to whistleblowing or asserting a health and safety breach);

• allegations of discrimination;

• the unfair dismissal claim has wider financial impact e.g. where it determines good leaver/bad leaver status for an employee's shareholding, bonus or other incentive;

• there are related High Court proceedings.

Our fees may increase or decrease as your case progresses. For example, if there are unforeseen complexities which mean we need to do additional work, our fees are likely to increase. We’ll discuss any fee increase with you in advance, providing you with a revised fee estimate.

Generally, we would allow 1-2 days for a simple case; 2-4 days for a medium complexity case and 5 days or more for a complex case.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties and are not part of our fees above. Typical disbursements that might be incurred in Employment Tribunal proceedings are as follows:

• costs for copying and preparing hearing bundles;

• barrister’s fees, unless we undertake the advocacy at the hearing ourselves (this will be assessed on a case by case basis taking into consideration the length of any hearing and whether it is more cost-effective to represent you ourselves at any such hearing). Barrister’s fees range between £750-£4,000 plus VAT per day (depending on the experience of the advocate) for attending an Employment Tribunal hearing (including preparation), although these could be significantly higher if, for example, you need a top-ranked barrister (known as King’s Counsel or ‘KC’);

• travel to and from the Employment Tribunal;

• accommodation whilst representing you at an Employment Tribunal hearing;

• access to medical records;

• instructing an actuary for complex pension loss claims;

• Court fees.

We normally handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process although we may require payment from you in advance of paying them. We will speak to you before we incur any disbursements and will agree the cost with you in advance.

Unless we agree an alternative fee arrangement, our fees will be payable regardless of the outcome of the claim. The usual costs rule in the Employment Tribunal is that each party bears its own costs so unless the Employment Tribunal determines that the claimant had acted vexatiously, abusively, disruptively or otherwise unreasonably, even if you are successful, it is unlikely that the Employment Tribunal would order your former employee to make a contribution to your costs.

Key stages

The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a defence to an unfair or wrongful dismissal 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 can be subject to change if new facts come to light);

• entering into ‘pre-claim conciliation’ via ACAS where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;

• preparing and submitting your response and any counter-claim;

• reviewing and advising on claim from other party;

• exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process;

• considering any schedule of loss and preparing a counter-schedule of loss;

• preparing for and attending a preliminary hearing;

• exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents;

• reviewing the other party’s documents and confirming whether they change our assessment of the claim and / or its value;

• taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses;

• preparing a bundle of documents for the hearing;

• reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements;

• agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list; and

• preparation for the final hearing, including instructions to counsel.

The stages set out above are an indication of the typical stages involved in a claim for unfair or wrongful dismissal. If some of the stages above are not required, the fee may be lower. You may wish to handle the defence yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can be arranged according to your requirements.

You may have other funding options. If you have legal expenses insurance, your insurers may agree to fund all or part of your legal fees. We can discuss the full range of options when we take your initial instructions.

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. On average, in a typical claim for unfair or wrongful dismissal in the Employment Tribunal, if a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, the matter is likely to take up to 6 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a final hearing, the case is likely to take 9-18 months based on the current processing times in Employment Tribunals. 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 a general rule, the longer the case is estimated to last, the longer it will take to get a hearing date.

Contact us

We love what we do and would be happy to talk to you about how we can make employment law work for you.  Call us on 07956 085635, email us at: info@slatelegal.co.uk or complete our enquiry form below and we'll aim to get back to you within 1 working day.