Employment Services Information

Time will vary from matter to matter; an accurate time scale can be determined when the matter is in progress.

For example, drafting an employment contract for you could take as little as one to two weeks, whereas representing you in an employment tribunal claim is dependent on how quickly the court or tribunal can process the claim.  

For example, ideally, a tribunal claim should take between 6 and 12 months from the date that the claim is filed with the tribunal, but this has recently changed to something closer to 12 to 18 months.

That depends on the length and contents of the settlement agreement.

However, for a straightforward settlement agreement that does not involve restrictive covenants or complex arrangements relating to the compensation payment, we would charge a standard fee of £350 plus VAT.

To advise on a settlement agreement that contains restrictive covenants or complex arrangements relating to the compensation payment, we would charge a minimum of £500 plus VAT.

Our team of Employment Law Solicitors prefer to work on a fixed fee basis where possible to avoid you getting nasty surprises.

They aim to provide the best estimate of their fees at the outset of a matter.  Nevertheless, there may be situations (such as convoluted workplace processes, employment tribunal claims, etc.) where it is not possible to give a complete estimate of the fees beforehand due to incomplete information, unexpected applications made by your opponent, and unexpected developments in the case.

If additional fees are to be charged, your solicitor will discuss these with you before those fees are charged so that you can make an informed decision on whether you agree with them.

This often depends on the strength of your claim or defence, as well as factors such as what evidence you have available, who is presenting your case for you and how it is presented, and which judge is hearing your claim.

Naturally, we will advise you of these and the other relevant factors during your case, as well as the practicalities of achieving a settlement, where possible.

Yes, we regularly advise HR professionals on how to navigate tricky processes and situations.

In terms of the fees, we aim to provide fixed fees where we can (please see “Do you offer fixed fees for your services?”), and we would usually suggest that, if the process is to be quite involved, it might be wiser for your client to pay the fees.  To do this, we would need to take your client on as our client, but, if they agree, we can explore taking instructions from you on day-to-day matters (although your client would have the final say on all matters, including the fees and our retainer).

However, if you would prefer to benefit from our ad hoc advice and standard documents, we offer a service tailored to HR Professionals called “HR and Employment Law Dream Team”.  Click this link for further information on this service.

We offer a complimentary 15-minute introductory call so that we can explore your needs and explore how we might be able to help you.

This session is not intended as advice as such, but to help us to see how we can help you and how you might benefit from our advice and assistance.

We can also give you an idea of the likely cost of proceeding should this be something that you wish to pursue.

Naturally, we would be delighted to help you with your employment tribunal claim.

However, it is important to note that employment tribunals are not concerned with clearing anyone’s name or with changing workplace culture.  

Their focus is on interpreting and applying the law, based on the strength of the evidence in front of them.

Therefore, whilst a tribunal might (at its discretion) refer a matter to a regulator or public body to consider further at the end of a claim, it is highly unlikely to remove a blotch from someone’s record or to do anything other than tell an employer to do something other than reinstate or re-engage an employee or to pay them compensation.

Yes, we would be happy to help.

It is important to note, however, that reviewing part of an employment contract is often tricky because it might well be relevant to other parts of the contract as well.

Therefore, it is often easier and more cost-effective for us to review the entire contract so that we can identify the proper meaning of the clause that you are concerned about and how it relates to other parts of the contract as well.

Yes, we offer fixed fee employment contract reviews at £250 plus VAT (subject to the length of the contract – the price quoted is for a contract of 12 to 13 pages in length), which is equivalent to one hour of our chargeable time.

For this, you will receive our advice on how compliant your contract is and our suggestions on whether any amendments are appropriate.  Please note that we will not advise you to make amendments to your employment contract template if we did not feel that they were absolutely necessary.

If you instruct us to make any amendments, these will be charged at our hourly rate of £250 plus VAT.

Our standard fee for drafting an employment contract for a junior employee (i.e. an employee below the position of manager) is £595 plus VAT.  Our standard fee for drafting an employment contract for a senior employee (i.e. an employee above the position of manager, but below the position of director) is £749 plus VAT.  Our standard fee for drafting a directors’ service agreement is £999 plus VAT.

At the end of this process, our aim is to provide you not only with the contract itself, but also drafting notes so that you can apply it for each new employee you recruit.

However, please note that, as employment law is a rapidly changing area of law and your business will also evolve over time, our recommendation is that employment contracts are reviewed every 2 to 5 years.