We feel it is important to be as transparent as possible at the outset of your relationship with us, and we provide clear costs information so that you can budget appropriately.
We try wherever possible to fix our fees to cover stages of work we do for you, but in some instances, we will need to charge you a rate per hour, with a best estimate of the time we will spend working on your case. If you have any concerns about our costs, you should approach your advisor who can provide clarity and help you manage and understand our costs.
Alongside hourly rate work, we are usually able to offer some or all of the following fee structures:
- Fixed fees: (examples below)
- Fixed fee monthly retainer options: To enable you to have a really great level of expertise in your corner at manageable cost we can offer our unique outsourced Watertight HR & Legal package. There are 3 levels of package to suit all businesses, you can read more about Watertight here.
- Pay as you go: For some clients it suits to come and engage us for specific projects such as drafting contracts and policies, an investigation, disciplinary, training or interim HR. we will give you an estimate on our costs on a project-by-project basis if you prefer.
- Legal Expenses Insurance: We also can support both businesses and individuals through funding by their insurers, for Tribunal matters. Some insurers will prefer you to use firms of solicitors selected from their panel. However, you have the right to choose your own representation and should not be pressured into instructing a solicitor simply because they are recommended by the insurance broker. Often tribunal claims costs insurance is included within a home insurance policy or Directors and office insurance. You should check your policies to see if you are covered.
Hourly Rate
If you do wish to instruct us on our hourly rates these are as follows:
Name | Position | Hourly rate (£) + VAT (20%) | Experience |
Jay Bhayani | Managing Director & Solicitor (Employment) | £320 | Please have a look at Jay’s bio for details of her experience. |
Lindsey Gaimster | Director & Solicitor (Employment) | £300 | Please have a look at Lindsey’s bio for details of her experience. |
Rebecca Stopford | Consultant Lawyer (Company & Commercial matters) | £330 | Please have a look at Rebecca’s bio for details of her experience. |
Alex Hurwood | Consultant Solicitor (Employment) | £280 | Please have a look at Alex’s bio for details of her experience. |
Hannah Haywood | Employment Lawyer | £260 | Please have a look at Hannah’s bio for details of her experience. |
Sian Summers | Employment Lawyer | £260 | Please have a look at Sian’s bio for details of her experience. |
Kathryn Gilbert | Head of HR Services | £260 | Please have a look at Kathryn’s bio for details of her experience. |
Ellie Hand | Senior HR Advisor & Training Lead | £245 | Please have a look at Ellie’s bio for details of her experience. |
Kirsty Rhodes | HR Advisor | £200 | Please have a look at Kirsty’s bio for details of her experience. |
The actual hourly rate will depend on the complexity of the support required. Please note all cases will be supervised by a qualified solicitor.
Fees charged by Bhayani Law
Case Type | Legal fee* | VAT (charged at 20%) | Total |
Simple case | £3500 – £4500 | £700 – £900 | £4200 – £5400 |
Medium complexity case | £5000 – £7500 | £1000 – £1500 | £6000 – £9000 |
High complexity case | £10,500 – £12,500 | £2100 – £2500 | £12,600 – £15,000 |
* basis of charging = hourly rate of £260.
If hourly rate … Based on 10– 18 numbers of hours to complete the work for a simple case.
Based on 20 – 30 numbers of hours to complete the work for a medium complexity case.
Based on 40 – 50 numbers of hours to complete the work for a high complexity case.
Factors that affect the complexity of a case:
If it is necessary 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.
- Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties).
- The number of witnesses and documents.
- If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if whistleblowing allegations
- Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal.
We will be able to give you an idea of which case type you are likely to have once we receive details of your case from you.
Our estimated costs for employment tribunal claims
We are required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to publish our legal fees in relation to wrongful and unfair dismissal, for both businesses and individuals.
Before starting any work, we will prepare a full bespoke quote based on the complexity of the case. This is based on fixed fees for each stage of the claim or defence and your advisor will guide you through any potential opportunities to settle the case to reduce costs.
For both businesses and individuals, fees will vary depending on whether you have to face additional claims in conjunction with wrongful and/or unfair dismissal claims as it will inevitably make your defence more complex, requiring additional preparatory time.
All of the below costs may vary depending on the following:
- complexity of claims;
- volume of documents;
- number of witnesses;
- for businesses, if the other party is representing themselves (this often requires more time due to their lack of understanding of the process and the law);
- dealing with cost applications;
- dealing with applications to amend claims;
- dealing with strike out or deposit order applications;
- where the dismissal/treatment is potentially discriminatory;
- making applications for interim relief;
- dealing with preliminary issues in more than one preliminary hearing;
- where you have started the claim/defence yourself and we have to correct any mistakes or redraft any part of the pleadings; or
- where the other party acts unreasonably.
The following are the typical costs which a business may incur in defending a claim of unfair or wrongful dismissal:
- Initial consultation: £400 to £700 plus VAT (20%)
- ACAS Early Conciliation: £650 plus VAT (20%)
- Grounds of Response(ET3): £1,000 to £2,500 plus VAT (20%)
- Counter Schedule of Loss: £350 to £500 plus VAT (20%)
- Preliminary Hearing: £500 to £1,700 plus VAT (20%)
- Disclosure of documents: from £600 to £3,000 plus VAT (20%) (the costs vary significantly depending on the volume of documents and the complexity of the case)
- List of Issues: £500 to £800 plus VAT (20%)
- Witness statements: £300 to £600 plus VAT (20%) (per statement)
- Final hearing preparation: £300 to £800 plus VAT (20%)
- Advocacy (someone attending tribunal for you)
- Preparation of your case and representation at the first day: £1,000 to £2,000 plus VAT (20%)
- For each subsequent day thereafter: £1,000 plus VAT (20%)
The following are the typical costs which an individual may incur in bringing a claim of unfair or wrongful dismissal:
- Initial consultation: £400 to £700 plus VAT (20%)
- ACAS Early Conciliation: £650 plus VAT (20%)
- Grounds of Claim(ET1): £1,000 to £2,500 plus VAT (20%)
- Schedule of Loss: £350 to £500 plus VAT (20%)
- Preliminary Hearing: £300 to £1,700 plus VAT (20%)
- Disclosure of documents: from £600 to £3,000 plus VAT (20%) (the costs vary significantly depending on the volume of documents and the complexity of the case)
- List of Issues: £500 to £800 plus VAT (20%)
- Witness statements: £300 to £600 plus VAT (20%) (per statement)
- Final hearing preparation: £300 to £800 plus VAT (20%)
- Advocacy (someone attending tribunal for you)
- Preparation of your case and representation at the first day: £1,000 to £2,000 plus VAT (20%)
- For each subsequent day thereafter: £1,000 plus VAT (20%)
For both businesses and individuals, in relation to advocacy, we usually conduct our own advocacy at the Preliminary Hearing level but, where necessary, we may instruct a barrister on your behalf at any stage. Prior to instruction, we will obtain a quote for you in respect of their disbursement fees and this will be agreed with you first before proceeding. You will be required to pay their fee to us to hold until after the hearing when we will pay the barristers fees for you.
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as barristers’ fees. Barristers’ fees can be anywhere between £1,000 to £3,000 plus VAT (20%) per day for attending the final hearing, dependant on their seniority and the complexities of the case. The most experienced barristers sometimes charge even more than that. This estimate does not include the barrister’s fees for preparation for a hearing (also known as the brief fee) which can also be in the region of £1,000 to £3,000 plus VAT (20%) per day.
What to do next?
Please contact us to arrange an initial assessment. Please note your first phone call or email is free of charge and there is no obligation to instruct us if you choose not to.
