We can offer free 20-minute interview at which we will assess the merits of your case. If your case is more complicated and requires more discussion for assessment, then we shall charge for this at a fee of £150 incl. VAT.
Please note all VAT stated is charged at 20%
Once we decide to take on your case, we will discuss funding.
Costs, Funding and Charges:
Our pricing will be according to our agreement with you.
We are selective on the cases we take, and this can only be assessed during the first meeting where we can decide on which basis to charge you.
There must be chances of success over at least over 50% for us to consider taking the case on.
Depending on your case we may offer the following funding options:
1) Our Hourly Rate Basis:
We may decide to carry out work on an hourly basis cost but will be agreed in advance and will depend on the complexity of the case
The charging structure of this firm is as follows: –
Our hourly fixed rates as follows:
| Grade of Fee Earner | Description of Fee Earner | Hourly Rate |
| A | Notaries Public, Consultants, Partners/Directors and Solicitors with over eight years post qualification experience including at least eight years of litigation experience | £225.00 per hour |
| B | Senior Solicitors and Fellows of Institute of Legal Executives and Chartered Accountants with over four years post qualification experience including at least four years of litigation experience | £196.00 per hour |
| C | Assistant/Associate Solicitors and Senior Legal Executives, Law Costs Draftsmen, Legal Executives and Para-Legal | £170.00 per hour |
| D | Trainee solicitors and other support staff | £136.00 per hour |
Letters out and telephone calls will be charged at a tenth of this hourly charging rate. (Hourly Charges are plus VAT)
Our usual fees for bringing claims for unfair and wrongful dismissal are set out below and are based on three bands.
Average pricing for bringing claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal:
| Simple case | £2000 to £5000 plus VAT (Average of £4000 plus VAT plus Disbursements) |
| Medium complexity case | £5001 to £10,000 plus VAT plus Disbursements |
| High complexity case | £10,001 to £20,000 plus VAT plus Disbursements |
These fees are if the matter is taken on an hourly charging basis. We will discuss with you our funding basis before the work starts of course.
The above fees include the services mentioned below but do not include attendance at Tribunal hearings which is estimated on average to be an additional £800-£1,000.00 plus VAT per day.
Final hearings can go on for 1-5 days or longer depending on the complexity of your case and the cost of this must be factored into funding when dealing with your case. Contact us and we can discuss this further with you.
As you can see unfair dismissal cases average cost of £4,000 plus VAT plus Disbursements. This can increase if there are elements of discrimination.
A Discrimination Case will average around £5,000-£7,000 plus VAT plus Disbursements.
Payment on an hourly rate charges usually reflect the seniority of the person dealing with the case. Although you may find a solicitor who will deal with your case on this basis, you should always consider the costs incurred as your claim may not always be worth more than the costs you could incur and so must be considered strongly before agreeing to hourly charges. We would discuss this with you at the outset.
If your claim is a large claim, then it may be worth considering hourly basis costs but as mentioned you should assess this carefully first.
We will ensure that we fully explain:
- How we calculate our fees
- The likely costs involved to prepare and run your case
- Any additional costs that may be incurred
- Any costs that may be recoverable from, or payable by you to the other party.
This average price includes:
- the drafting of initial Court documents,
- attendance at a preliminary hearing to discuss case management,
- dealing with the case management orders including;
- preparation of a schedule of loss;
- dealing with disclosure of documents/preparation of a bundle and drafting of witness statements.
2) Fixed Fee Charge Basis:
This is available for initial advice face to face meeting only and our fee includes discussing the matter and providing you with formal advice regarding your case.
For this fee we can consider documentation you have received and provide you with a written advice outlining the options available to you.
Our Employment Solicitor fixed fees start from £150 including VAT for an initial assessment of your employment issue by a 20 minute phone call.
We will then get an overview and direct you further as to moving forward including costing.
The telephone call does not include going through your documents.
If you then instruct us to represent you for settlement negotiations through ACAS Early Conciliation or directly with your employer our fees start from £400 including VAT.
Settlement negotiations through ACAS Early Conciliation will usually be completed within 1 month.
This allows you to receive advice and legal support you need with the certainty of an agreed fixed cost for each stage of your claim.
We may need to instruct a Barrister or a medical expert to support your claim. These fees are disbursements and are in addition to our fees and shall discuss this with you beforehand.
We encourage Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) where possible and mediation and ACAS conciliation instead of rushing to formal litigation as sometimes matters settle quicker this route although not always.
Depending on the case we may decide to deal with your case on a damages based agreement basis or no win no fee.
We will assess risk involved in the case also and advise you accordingly. The risk will also be assessed with a decision being made during the consultation.
3) Damages Based Agreement:
We may charge on a percentage of damages recovered which we will be set to 35% depending on the facts and risks of your case.
We may decide to carry out work based on this type of agreement in which you will be liable for our costs only on successful recovery of damage however will have to pay disbursements in advance on top of this is requested. On conclusion we will deduct up to 35% of damages inclusive of VAT for our costs as will be agreed in advance.
Disbursements are to be paid by you in advance of us incurring them. These will include Barrister Fees for hearings
Disbursements: We may need to instruct a Barrister or a medical expert to support your claim. These fees are disbursements and are in addition to our fees and shall discuss this with you beforehand. Details of other disbursements are below.
We encourage Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) where possible and mediation and ACAS conciliation instead of rushing to formal litigation as sometimes matters settle quicker this route although not always.
4) Insurance Cover:
If you have legal expenses insurance, sometimes this can cover your legal fees, or we may be prepared to offer a no win no deal retainer, both of which we can discuss with you. Please be aware that in most unfair and wrongful dismissal claims each party is responsible to pay its own legal costs irrespective of who wins the case
Employment law cases vary and each case is different. There will be various issues relating to your claim that need taking into consideration when deciding what your total legal fees are likely to be. We will make an assessment and inform you of the likely overall fees at the outset and throughout the claim, if we consider these fees will be exceeded.
You should have freedom of choice to select the solicitor you would like to instruct, however we do find that insurance policies require you to utilise solicitors on the panel and this should be checked.
Upon becoming aware of a claim, you should contact your insurance company as soon as you can and advise that you wish to instruct your own solicitor to assist with the claim. We are able to liaise with insurers on your behalf to quickly secure cover however this will depend on your insurance company and as stated they usually wish you to utilise their panel solicitor.
Please Note: WE ARE NOT A Legal Aid Firm: Civil Legal Advice Scheme-Individuals who have been subjected to unlawful discrimination in the workplace or otherwise and who are in receipt of certain benefits or on a low income can claim free legal advice and help.
Unfortunately we are not part of this Legal Aid Scheme and therefore Legal Aid is not available at N K Law Solicitors.
YOU SHOULD ENSURE THAT YOU SPEAK TO A FIRM WHICH CAN OFFER YOU LEGAL AID IF YOU ARE ON LOW INCOME OR BEEN INFORMED THAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO LEGAL AID FUNDING.
What Other Costs Can I Incur?
Disbursements: You can incur Disbursements which could include payments made to a third parties and can include the following:
- Counsel’s fees in relation to advice or a hearing attendance (hourly rates ranging from £150 – £300 plus VAT depending on experience. A full day hearing is likely to cost in the region of £800-£1000 plus VAT)
- Travel expenses
- Medical evidence, i.e. to address issue of whether or not a Claimant is disabled (estimated range between £250 – £450 plus VAT for report)
You should note that it is very rare that tribunals award you costs against the other party even if you win and you must show the other party has been unreasonable for the court even to consider costs against the other party.
Factors that could make a case more complex and more expensive:
- 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 you are dismissed after blowing the whistle on your employer
- Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal
- Value of claim and what you are wishing to claim for.
NOTE: We would also instruct and liaise with a barrister for any final preparations before attending the final hearing.
We will ensure that we fully explain:
- How we calculate our fees
- The likely costs involved to prepare and run your case
- Any additional costs that may be incurred
Any costs that may be recoverable from, or payable by you to the other party.
What Service Do Our Fees Include?
Our fees cover all of the work in relation to the following services and stages of a claim:
| · Taking initial instructions, reviewing papers, advising on merits and likely award | |
| · Submitting Mandatory ACAS Early Conciliation documentation | |
| · Preparing claim or response including drafting detailed grounds of claim or resistance and dealing with submission to Tribunal | |
| · Reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party | |
| · Preparing for (and attending) a preliminary hearing (unless complexity requires it) | |
| · Preparing list of relevant documents for disclosure, exchanging documents with other party and agreeing final list for preparation of bundle | |
| · Preparing or advising on schedule of loss | |
| · Meeting witnesses to take witness statements, drafting statements, agreeing final content and supporting documents with witnesses and exchanging statements with other party | |
| · Preparing bundle of documents for final hearing | |
| · Reviewing and advising on other party’s witness statements | |
| · Preparing and agreeing list of issues and chronology with other party | |
| · Updating or advising on updated schedule of loss prior to final hearing | |
| · Preparation for attendance at final hearing including cross examination preparation and instructions to Barrister (But not the cost of the Barrister) | |
| · Consideration of and advising on Judgment following final hearing |
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 however we will usually only do this at an early stage of the case. Please contact us to discuss this aspect should you wish.
What is not included in our price structure?
- Cost of a hiring a barrister for a trial or a hearing if necessary. Hearings normally take anything from 1 hr to a full day and the barrister cost of this can be in the region of £300 to £1000 plus VAT. We will usually to do the initial hearings our self to reduce outside costs unless there are issues which require us to hire a barrister. This cost you will have to pay and we shall inform you of this well in advance of any required hearing.
- If issues in the case become more complex or any unforeseen issues arise, we will make sure you are informed of this and a clear estimate of any additional fees or disbursements will be provided.
- Factors that may lead to an increase in fees or disbursements include:
- Making any application to amend your claim or to provide further information about an existing claim
- Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
- The conduct of your opponent or their legal representative, including but not limited to, the need to make or respond to any applications to the Tribunal
- Making or defending a costs application
- The number of documents and witnesses
- If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if you are dismissed after blowing the whistle on your employer
- If there are allegations of discrimination linked to the dismissal or other complex issues
- Preliminary issues which may need to be determined by a Tribunal first
- Liaising with any third parties such as legal expenses insurers and agreeing fee increases
Key Stages In Employment Case
Every Employment Tribunal claim has stages. Some stages vary depending on individual circumstances of each case however please note the usual stages:
- 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 is subject to change)
- Entering into pre-claim conciliation, where this is mandatory, to explore whether a settlement is possible;
- Preparing your claim, drafting it and submitting it to the Tribunal
- Reviewing and advising on the response from the other party
- Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process, if applicable
- Preparing or considering a Schedule of Loss (setting out the compensation you are seeking)
- Preparing for (and attending) any preliminary hearings, if required
- Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
- Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses and exchanging with the other party
- Preparing bundle of documents
- Reviewing and advising on the other party’s Witness Statements
- Preparing and agreeing a List of Issues, a Chronology and/or Cast List
- Updating the Schedule of Loss
- Drafting instructions to Counsel and liaising with Counsel
- Preparation and attendance at the final hearing
- Advising on any Tribunal Judgment
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, or maybe even instruct us midway through the proceedings or at a later stage. This can also be arranged on your individual needs and our fees are likely to be reduced.
Our fees are calculated by reference to our hourly rates and the time spent, which vary according to the level of seniority of the person dealing with your case. However, we can also consider offering a fixed fee for various stages of the case. The benefit of a fixed fee is that you have certainty about how much you will pay for each stage. Our fee arrangements can be discussed at your first meeting with us.
How Long Will My Case Take? (Time Scales)
The time that it takes from obtaining your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved.
If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take up to 3-15 weeks.
If your claim continues to a final hearing, then the case is likely to take up to 9-12 months from when the claim form outlining your case and the nature of the dispute is submitted to the tribunal to final judgement.
Who will Carry Out The Work:
The work is carried out by Mr Mohammad Raza Javid (Grade A Solicitor) with the Assistance of Paralegals Aneeq Khan (Grade D) and Ihsan Niazi (Grade D) under the supervision of Mr Nazakat Khan(Grade A Solicitor). All employment law work is supervised by a qualified solicitor.
Our staff profiles can be seen in the ‘About Us’ page.