Our Fees

Employment Law

Our estimated pricing for bringing and defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal

Simple case: £2000 - £5000 (excluding VAT)

Medium complexity case: £5000 - £10,000 (excluding VAT)

High complexity case: £10,000 - £18,000 (excluding VAT)

Factors that could make a case more complex:

• 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

There will be an additional charge for attending a Tribunal Hearing of £750 per day (excluding VAT). Generally, we would allow 2 - 3 days depending on the complexity of your case.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Counsel's fees estimated between £450 to £1500 per day (depending on experience of the advocate) for attending a Tribunal Hearing (including preparation)

Key stages

The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:

• 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 subject to change)
• Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
• Preparing claim or response
• Reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party
• Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
• preparing or considering a schedule of loss
• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
• Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
• Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
• preparing bundle of documents
• Reviewing and advising on the other party's witness statements
• agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
• Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel

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. This can also be arranged on your individual needs.

How long will my matter take?

The time that it takes from taking 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 1 - 2 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 3 - 5 months. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

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Licensing

You are required to provide price information to businesses in relation to applying for a new premises licence or to vary a premises licence to allow those premises to be used for one or more licensable activities. This means that the rules are limited to two types of applications - applications for a premises licence under Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003 and applications to vary a premises licence under Section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003.

If you cannot provide the total cost of the service in the form of a fixed fee, you can provide the average cost or a range of costs instead. We have not prescribed what these ranges are, but they should be the best information you can provide based on your knowledge and experience.

One way of providing this information is to set out the normal range of costs for cases in the following way:

• Simple application: £440 - £660 (based on 3 - 4 hours at an hourly rate of £220 plus VAT)
• Medium complexity: £880 - £1320 (based on 4 - 6 hours at an hourly rate of £220 plus VAT)
• High complexity: £1320 - £2640 (based on 6 - 12 hours at an hourly rate of £220 plus VAT).

You would need to set out some factors to help businesses determine whether their application for a premises licence is likely to be a simple application or one of medium or high complexity. Factors affecting complexity may include whether there is a cumulative impact policy in place, the type and size of the premises, or whether it is in a residential area. It is for you to decide how you define simple, medium and high complexity, but for example, high complexity could include large scale public events.

Mandatory requirement

Unless stated as a specific exclusion, the price displayed should include:

• taking your client's instructions
• advising them as to how they can promote the licensing objectives within their premises licence application
• advising on the type of plans required to accompany their application
• completing and submitting the application
• disclosing the application to the responsible authorities
• making arrangements for the necessary advertising of the application.

You should set out that additional costs are payable for submitting and advertising the application and explain how these are calculated

Best practice tips

Specify any additional fees payable, and whether these are included in the fee or not (eg the costs of advertising)

Explain how any related fees are calculated (the licensing application fee is based on the rateable value)

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as the application fee. We will pay the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

• Application fee (payable to licensing authority) £100 - £635 depending on non-domestic rateable value.
• Advertising fee £350 - 450
• Enquiry agent fees to display public notices £50 plus VAT
• Special delivery fee to serve the application £6.45 (if on line application there is no fee)
• Printing additional copies of plans if necessary £7.50 per full colour A1 sheet

*These fees vary depending on the individual premises and where it is located. The fees can on occasion be higher than the ranges given above. We will give you an accurate figure for each item as soon as we are able to do so.

Fee includes:

• Taking your instructions and advising you as to how you can promote the licensing objectives within your application
• Advising you as the type of plans you are required to submit with your application.
• Completing the application form for a new premises licence (including the operating schedule) in accordance with your instructions and submitting this to the local licensing authority alongside suitable plans. You must provide suitable plans.
• Providing guidance on the fee levels payable to the licensing authority.
• Preparing copies of the premises licence application for disclosure to the responsible authorities and serving copies of the application on the responsible authorities.
• Drafting the notices advertising the premises licence application and submitting the notice to the local newspaper.
• Arranging with you for you to display the notice(s) advertising the premises licence application and advising as to where and how this should be done by you in order to comply with the requirements of the Licensing Act 2003.
• Providing a Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) consent form for signature by a personal licence holder proposed by yourself.
• Checking the licence once granted and correcting any errors with the licensing authority.

The fee does not include:

• obtaining suitable plans
• attending pre-consultation meetings with the Licensing Authority or Responsible Authorities, nor their fee for this meeting.
• dealing with or advising you in relation to queries or representations received from either the responsible authorities or other interested parties
• advising on varying the licence
• attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee hearing of the responsible authority. If representations are received and attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee is required then we will provide a separate fee estimate for this work which will be charged at an hourly rate.

How long will my application take?

Matters usually take 2 - 3 weeks from receipt of full instructions from you. This is on the basis of the application being relatively straightforward and you being able to provide all the necessary documents promptly. If your matter is more complex, for example, if there is substantial opposition from interested parties, or if there is a delay in receiving the documents we need, it may take longer.

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Probate  - range of costs

Applying for the grant, collecting and distributing the assets

We anticipate this will take between 14 and 23 hours work at £220 per hour. Total costs estimated at £3,000 - £5,000 (+VAT).

The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the matter.

For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of the range. If there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end.

We will handle the full process for you. This quote is for estates where:

• There is a valid will
• There is no more than one property
• There are no more than one bank or building society accounts
• There are no other intangible assets
• There are two beneficiaries
• There are no disputes between beneficiaries on division of assets. If disputes arise this is likely to lead to an increase in costs
• There is no inheritance tax payable and the executors do not need to submit a full account to HMRC
• There are no claims made against the estate

Disbursements included in this fee:

• Probate application fee of £155.00
• £7.00 Swearing of the oath (per executor)
• Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches (£3 per beneficiary)
• £62.15 Post in The London Gazette – Protects against unexpected claims from unknown creditors.
• £10- 30 Post in a Local Newspaper – This also helps to protect against unexpected claims.

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
Potential additional costs

• If there is no will or the estate consists of any share holdings (stocks and bonds) there is likely to be additional costs that could range significantly depending on the estate and how it is to be dealt with. We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information.
• If any additional copies of the grant are required, they will cost £0.50p if obtained at the same time as the original grant. If obtained later it is £10 for first copy and 50p for additional copies (1 per asset usually).
• Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included.

How long will this take?

On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 2 - 3 months. Typically, obtaining the grant of probate takes 2 – 3 weeks. Collecting assets then follows, which can take between 4 - 6 weeks. Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets, which normally takes 2 - 3 weeks.

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Example template (Range of fixed fees) for a business to business debt that is undisputed

Court Claims

These costs apply where your claim is in relation to an unpaid invoice which is not disputed and enforcement action is not needed. If the other party disputes your claim at any point, we will discuss any further work required and provide you with revised advice about costs if necessary, which could be on a fixed fee (e.g. if a one off letter is required), or an hourly rate if more extensive work is needed.

Debt value	Court fee	Our fee	Total
Up to £300.00	£35.00	£50.00 plus VAT	£95.00
£300.01 - £500.00	£50.00	£50.00 plus VAT	£110.00
£500.01 - £1000.00	£70.00	£70.00 plus VAT	£154.00
£1000.01 - £1500.00	£80.00	£80.00 plus VAT	£176.00
£1500.01 - £3000.00	£115.00	£80.00 plus VAT	£211.00
£3000.01 - £5000.00	£205.00	£80.00 plus VAT	£301.00
£5000.01 - £10,000.00	£455.00	£100.00 plus VAT	£575.00
All amounts over £10,000.01	5% of Claim Value	£100.00 plus VAT	Variable upon amount of Court Fee

Anyone wishing to proceed with a claim should note that:

• The VAT element of our fee cannot be reclaimed from your debtor.
• Interest and compensation may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher cost.
• The costs quoted above are not for matters where enforcement action, such as the bailiff, is needed to collect your debt.

Our fee includes:

• Taking your instructions and reviewing documentation
• Undertaking appropriate searches
• Sending a letter before action
• Receiving payment and sending onto you, or if the debt is not paid, drafting and issuing claim
• Where no Acknowledgment of Service or Defence is received, applying to the court to enter Judgement in default
• When Judgement in default in received, write to the other side to request payment
• If payment is not received within 14 days, providing you with advice on next steps and likely costs

Matters usually take 4 – 12 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side, depending on whether or not it is necessary to issue a claim. This is on the basis that the other side pays promptly on receipt of Judgement in default. If enforcement action is needed, the matter will take longer to resolve.