Important Information For Clients
Client Protection
We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority “SRA”. All of the staff at this firm who conduct legal work are fully qualified solicitors and have years of experience in employment law. We can offer you the peace of mind of knowing that your matter will be dealt with by a qualified professional.
We maintain professional indemnity insurance in accordance with the SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules. This means that if anything does go wrong you will be compensated by our insurers. Of course, we hope that nothing does go wrong, but we wanted to let you know that you are covered. In addition the SRA operate a compensation fund that provides redress to clients who have suffered any loss. Not all employment law advisors can offer this level of protection and provide assurance that, if the worse does happen, you won’t lose out.
Client Care
We issue a comprehensive client care letter to every client who instructs us. This letter will set out the work we will undertake on your behalf and let you know who will be dealing with your case. If you have any concerns about your case you should always feel free to discuss those concerns with the person handling your case on a day-to-day basis.
Whilst we hope you are happy with the service we provide, we do recognise that from time to time things don’t go as hoped. If you are in any way unhappy or concerned about the service you receive but don’t feel able to discuss this with the person handling your case, please contact Dan Wise at dwise@osbornewise.com. In the first instance, we will try to resolve your concerns on an informal basis. If we cannot resolve the matter on an informal basis we will provide you with our written complaints procedure and deal with the matter on a formal basis. If we are still unable to resolve the matter between us you can make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. This service is independent and free for clients. Please note that not all employment advisors are covered by the Legal Ombudsman scheme.
Employment Tribunal Costs
We have set out below typical costs for bringing and defending employment tribunal claims.
Factors that will impact on how long it takes to resolve your case and the costs of your case:
1. If it is necessary to make or defend Court or Tribunal applications to amend the claim or to provide further information about an existing claim
2. Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person
3. Making or defending a costs application
4. Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties)
5. The number of witnesses and documents
6. If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim eg. if you are dismissed after blowing the whistle on your employer
7. Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal
There will be an additional charge for attending a Tribunal hearing of approximately £1,500 per day (exc VAT). A Tribunal hearing can range from 1 day to 20 days or more depending on the complexity of the case.
Where VAT is charged it will be charged at the prevailing rate, currently 20%.
In some cases it will be necessary to instruct a Barrister. The costs can vary dramatically, and will depend upon the complexity of your case and the level of experience of the barrister. We will discuss the costs of instructing a barrister with you before we ask you to incur any costs.
Our costs for a tribunal matter will be in the region of the following:
Simple case: £10,000-£20,000 (exc VAT)
Medium complexity case: £30,000-£50,000 (exc VAT)
High complexity case: £50,000-£250,000 (exc VAT)