Employment Law
- Fees
Our fees are intended to cover all of the work that we will carry out on your behalf including, if necessary, the cost of dealing with proceedings in the Employment Tribunal.
We will provide you with an estimate of the likely costs of the work we will do for you. This estimate is based on our estimate of the likely work involved and the time it will take to ensure that your case is properly completed. Occasionally and due to new developments or unforeseen circumstances, it may be necessary for us to amend our estimate.
If this happens, we will keep you fully informed of any changes and explain the reasons why.
- Our Fees
For each hour of work that we carry out on your behalf, we will charge you the hourly rates set out below. Our fees are charged in units of 6 minutes, so for each 6-minute unit or part of a unit that we are working on your behalf, you will be charged at a rate equivalent to one tenth of the hourly rates set out below:
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Grade of Fee Earner A. Solicitors with over eight years post qualification experience including at least eight years litigation experience. B. Solicitors and legal executives with over four years post qualification experience including at least four years litigation experience. C. Other solicitors and legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience. D. Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners. |
Hourly Rate £195.00 £170.00 £145.00 £105.00 |
We will not charge you any additional or hidden fees and the initial estimate that we provide to you will be based on our quoted hourly rates.
It is of course very difficult to estimate the cost of our services but by way of example:
E.g. if you wish to be represented on a private basis by a Solicitor or Legal Executive of over 4 years’ experience and charging at a rate of £180.00 plus VAT per hour, the average cost of our fees would be for:
A Simple case: £2,000 -£3,000 (excluding VAT)
Medium complexity case: £5,000-£7,000 (excluding VAT)
High complexity case: £9,000-£15,000 (excluding VAT)
There are a number of factors that may affect the complexity of your case such as:
- the number of witnesses involved;
- whether there are any allegations of discrimination; and/or
- dealing with complex preliminary issues.
Disbursements and Expenses
Disbursements and expenses are costs related to your case that are payable to third parties, such as travel expenses or expert’s fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements and expenses on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
At the commencement of your case we will be provided you with an estimate of the cost of the disbursements and expenses likely to be incurred in dealing with your case. A normal estimate of expenses and disbursement would be between £200.00 and £500.00 plus VAT.
- Funding Arrangements
Apart from funding your case on a private basis as set out above, there are a number of other ways that you may wish fund your case including:
An independent Insurance Policy – Many household insurance policies now contain the option of providing funding to the policy holder if they wish to undertake or are involved in legal proceedings. Even if you do not believe that you have this type of cover it is still worth contacting your insurer to confirm this;
Trade Union Membership – if you are a member of a Trade Union or a trade or professional organisation, your membership may entitle you to receive some financial support in the event that you wish to undertake or are involved in legal proceedings and it is worth checking with your local agent to confirm this;
Contingency Fee Agreements – usually referred to as “No-Win No-Fee Agreements” These kinds of Agreement usually provide that no fees are payable unless your claim is successful. If your claim is unsuccessful, you will only be expected to pay the cost of the expenses or disbursements.
The percentage that we will charge you under a No-WinNo-Fee Agreement will depend on the estimate of our fees in dealing with your case, and 35 % including any VAT is the maximum amount that we may charge you.
Free to Use or Pro Bono Organisations- There are many charitable organisations that offer free advice to those wishing to undertake or are involved in legal proceedings. If you wish to take advantage of this option, your local Citizens Advice Bureau will usually be able to provide you with a list of local support services;
- Estimate of how long your case will take to complete
At the very beginning if your case we will provide you with an estimate of how long we believe that your case is going to require before it is finally completed. The estimate we provide to you will be based on the complexity and nature of your case.
Simply workplace disputes, may be resolved in a relatively short time, but for a claim to the Employment Tribunal for Unfair Dismissal or for a complaint of Discrimination, this may take anywhere from 6 to 18 months before it is finally completed.
- Stages of the process
If you are required to issue proceedings to the Employment Tribunal, you will be required to comply with whatever orders and direction that the Employment Tribunal set down.
Some of the key stages of your case will normally include:
- Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation
- Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
- Preparing your claim or response
- Reviewing and advising on the 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.
Employment matters are dealt with by Graham Whitehouse, who is a solicitor with over 8 years experience and is therefore a Grade A fee-earner.