Is there a fee to make an employment tribunal claim?

No. Employment tribunal claim fees were abolished by the Supreme Court in R (Unison) v Lord Chancellor [2017] UKSC 51, which quashed the Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunal Fees Order 2013 in full. As at 2026, you can lodge an unfair dismissal, discrimination, or other employment tribunal claim with no fee. The same ruling removed the Employment Appeal Tribunal fees, which have not been reintroduced, so appeals to the EAT are also free.

Can I get the employer to pay my legal fees if I win?

Usually no. In employment tribunals, each party normally bears its own legal costs regardless of the outcome. A costs order can only be made against the losing party for unreasonable conduct (a vexatious claim, lying, or rejecting a reasonable settlement offer). This means even if you win, you typically cannot recover your solicitor's fees from the employer. The £10,000+ solicitor cost is genuinely yours to bear unless funded by insurance, a CFA, or a union.

Can I represent myself at an employment tribunal?

Yes. Tribunals are designed to be accessible without legal representation, and many claimants succeed unrepresented. ACAS provides free guidance, Citizens Advice runs employment-rights services, and the tribunal panel is experienced with litigants in person. The downside is that employers usually instruct experienced employment solicitors and barristers, so the proceeding can feel uneven. For complex discrimination or whistleblowing claims, legal representation materially improves your chances.

How much does an employment tribunal cost the employer?

Defending a claim typically costs an employer £8,000 to £30,000 plus VAT in legal fees for an unfair dismissal run to a final hearing, and £20,000 to £50,000 or more for a discrimination or whistleblowing claim, based on the defence pricing firms publish under the SRA Transparency Rules. On top of that sit barrister hearing-day fees (£1,500 to £7,500 plus VAT a day), any negotiated settlement, and up to a month of internal management time. Because the tribunal runs an each-side-pays costs regime, an employer that successfully defends a claim normally recovers none of these fees from the claimant. This is why many employers settle even weak claims through ACAS: a modest COT3 settlement can cost far less than defending to a hearing.

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Employment Law

Employment Tribunal Cost UK 2026

Zero claim fee. £0 to file. Solicitor fees £10,000 to £25,000 if you instruct one (rarely recoverable from the employer). ACAS, CFA, and trade-union routes explained. Updated July 2026.

The big numbers

ComponentCost

Tribunal claim fee£0 (abolished 2017)

ACAS early conciliationFree (mandatory)

Solicitor (unfair dismissal, full representation)£10,000 to £25,000 + VAT

Solicitor (discrimination / whistleblowing)£15,000 to £50,000 + VAT

Settlement agreement review (employer-funded)£250 to £500 + VAT

Barrister (tribunal hearing day rate)£1,500 to £7,500 + VAT/day

Employment Appeal Tribunal appeal fee£0 (quashed by Unison, not reintroduced)

Sources: R (Unison) v Lord Chancellor [2017] UKSC 51 (abolition of tribunal and EAT fees), ACAS (early conciliation), Law Society Fee Survey (solicitor and barrister ranges).

Step 1: ACAS early conciliation (free, mandatory)

Before lodging a tribunal claim you must notify ACAS and give them an opportunity to broker a settlement. This is free, mandatory, and takes up to 6 weeks. ACAS contacts both you and your employer to test whether a deal can be reached. If conciliation succeeds, you sign a COT3 settlement agreement, are paid, and the matter ends. If it fails, ACAS issues a certificate (with a reference number) allowing you to proceed to tribunal.

Around two-thirds of early conciliation cases do not go on to a tribunal claim. The free ACAS service is the single most cost-effective intervention in any employment dispute.

Step 2: lodge the ET1 claim (free)

If conciliation fails you have 3 months less one day from the act complained of (or, for discrimination, from the last act in a continuing course of conduct) to lodge the ET1 claim form. There is no fee. Lodge online at gov.uk/employment-tribunals.

Step 3: instruct a solicitor (or self-represent)

This is the cost-bearing decision point. The four routes:

Self-represent. £0 in legal fees. ACAS guidance, Citizens Advice, and the tribunal's own practice directions are designed for litigants in person. Most viable for straightforward unfair dismissal claims with a clear factual narrative.
Trade union representation. If you are a member, most unions provide legal representation for employment claims free of charge as a member benefit. If you are not a union member, joining mid-dispute generally does not get you free representation -- unions vet new members' claims first.
Solicitor on a conditional fee (CFA, no-win-no-fee). The solicitor charges you nothing if you lose, and takes a success fee (typically 25 to 100 per cent uplift on their base fee) from your award if you win. Many UK employment specialists offer CFA for clear-cut cases worth £15,000+.
Solicitor on full private retainer. Hourly rate (£247 to £393/hr Grade B GHR by region) or fixed fee. Total cost £10,000 to £25,000 for a typical unfair dismissal up to and including final hearing; £15,000 to £50,000 for discrimination or whistleblowing. Suitable if you can afford to lose this money since it is rarely recoverable.

Compensation: what tribunals award

If you win, the tribunal can award:

Basic award (unfair dismissal): calculated by age × years of service × week's pay (capped at £751/week from 6 April 2026). Maximum approximately £22,530.
Compensatory award (unfair dismissal): capped at the lower of 52 weeks' pay or £123,543 (from 6 April 2026, uprated annually; the cap is due to be removed from 1 January 2027).
Discrimination claims: uncapped. Injury to feelings awarded on the Vento bands (for claims presented on or after 6 April 2026: lower £1,300 to £12,600, middle £12,600 to £37,700, upper £37,700 to £62,900; updated annually for inflation).
Whistleblowing claims: uncapped.

The median unfair dismissal award (where the claimant wins) is around £6,700; discrimination medians are higher, around £16,000 to £17,000, and mean awards are higher still because of a long tail of large discrimination awards (MoJ tribunal statistics, 2023/24). Over 40 per cent of cases that reach a full hearing succeed on at least part of the claim.

Costs orders: when the loser pays

In employment tribunals, costs orders are exceptional, not the default. Unlike civil litigation, the tribunal does not award costs to the winner as standard. Costs orders are made only where one side acted unreasonably: pursued a hopeless claim or defence, lied, made baseless allegations, or refused a reasonable settlement offer. Costs awards are typically modest (£1,000 to £20,000), which is the most a tribunal can fix without a detailed assessment of the costs; larger orders go to detailed assessment. The tribunal can also take the paying party's means into account when deciding whether to make an order at all.

Practical consequence: even if you win a clean unfair dismissal claim, you will usually not recover your £15,000 solicitor fee from the employer. Factor this into the cost-benefit decision before instructing privately.

What an employment tribunal costs the employer

The figures above are the claimant's side of the ledger. The cost to the employer of defending a claim is a separate calculation, and it is one many businesses underestimate: because the tribunal runs an each-side-pays costs regime, an employer that wins still absorbs its own legal bill. For the full breakdown from the business's perspective, see what an employment tribunal costs an employer.

Employer cost	Typical amount
Legal defence (unfair dismissal, to final hearing)	£8,000 to £30,000 + VAT
Legal defence (discrimination / whistleblowing)	£20,000 to £50,000+ + VAT
Barrister (hearing day rate)	£1,500 to £7,500 + VAT/day
ACAS early conciliation	Free (mandatory both sides)
Settlement (COT3 via ACAS, or protected conversation)	Negotiated (often less than a defence)
Management time	Up to ~1 month of internal time
Award if the claim succeeds	Unfair dismissal capped at £123,543; discrimination uncapped
Cost recovery if the employer wins	Usually £0 (each-side-pays)

Legal-defence ranges reflect the pricing firms publish under the SRA Transparency Rules for defending tribunal claims. Compensation caps are the statutory limits for dismissals on or after 6 April 2026 (the unfair dismissal cap is due to be removed from 1 January 2027).

The decisive number for an employer is not the potential award but the cost of defending regardless of merit. Because winning recovers no legal fees, defending a weak unfair dismissal claim to a hearing can cost more than settling it. That economics, not the strength of the claim, is why a large share of tribunal claims settle at the ACAS conciliation stage. For an employer the cheapest interventions are early: sound documentation before dismissal, a fair procedure, and engaging seriously with ACAS conciliation before costs build.