Protect your business
Employment tribunal service for employers
Employment tribunals can be stressful and time-consuming for your business to handle. While prevention is the best tactic, if you do face a claim then an expert employment tribunal service for employers is the ideal way to manage your situation.
At WorkNest, we offer a specialist UK business employment law team who offer essential support. Protect your organisation from financial and reputational damage with a free, no-obligation consultation.
Helping you with
Access expert UK employment tribunal advice for employers
At WorkNest, we help organisations like yours control and reduce your exposure to claims through expert advice and training. With a team of dedicated employment law specialists at your disposal, you can navigate through even the trickiest employee matters with total compliance with UK laws.
Whether you’re facing a claim now, or want to protect your business in the long-term, we’re here to support you, strengthen your legal standing, and minimise stress.
- Avoid legal pitfalls with unlimited, fixed-fee employment law advice from highly-qualified experts
- Set clear expectations and protect your interests with carefully-crafted employment contracts
- Ensure a fair, consistent approach with best-practice policies and management guidance notes
- Increase your prospects of success and reduce claims stress with expert Litigation support
- Protect against claims with our optional, FCA-regulated Legal Expenses Insurance
Find peace of mind with specialist employment tribunal services
Our employment tribunal services are designed to make an unnerving, time-consuming process less stressful. Our team of specialist litigators will look after your case throughout a claim.
Your dedicated adviser will deal with all the other parties, take care of correspondence, and draft all your documentation to relieve you of significant time pressures and offer peace of mind. If you have taken business legal expenses insurance, we’ll liaise with the insurers directly on your behalf and keep them updated.
Tribunal advice for employers like yourself is the ideal route for managing your reputation and stress. We can advise you as to prospects of success based on our years of experience in defending claims brought against companies, and, where possible and appropriate, explore settlement and negotiate terms that are acceptable to you.
We’ll also liaise with Chambers to find and instruct a barrister who’ll represent you at hearings to ensure seamless representation throughout a claim.
Do employment tribunals favour employers?
No. These are impartial and don’t favour a business or the employee. This is because they’re independent legal bodies that make decisions on the evidence presented and the relevant law. While some employees may feel the process is weighted towards employers (who often have more experience, support, or resources), the tribunal system is designed to provide a fair hearing. Cases are heard by an employment judge and sometimes by a panel that includes representatives from employer and employee backgrounds to help ensure balance.
Outcomes often come down to how well each side has prepared. If you follow fair processes and keep clear records you’ll be in a stronger position to defend against claims. On the flip side, employees with well-supported cases can and do succeed. UK government data also shows many claims settle before reaching a final hearing, and where they do go all the way, outcomes vary depending on the nature of the claim and the evidence. So, while the system doesn’t favour employers, being well-prepared is key.
Are all employment tribunal decisions published?
Most employment tribunals are published, but not all. Since 2017, the majority of written judgments have been made publicly available online via the government’s database. This includes both final decisions and certain preliminary court rulings.
The purpose of publishing employment tribunal decisions is to increase transparency and help people understand how tribunals reach their conclusions. However, some decisions – particularly older cases or those where a judgment was given verbally without written reasons – may not appear on the site.
There are also instances where a tribunal can withhold or anonymise information, usually to protect individuals involved in sensitive cases. For example, if a claim involves allegations of sexual misconduct or could identify a vulnerable individual, a judge may order that certain details be removed or the case not be published at all. These situations are the exception rather than the rule. So while most decisions are publicly available, especially in more recent cases, not every tribunal outcome will appear online.
The employment tribunal process
If a workplace dispute can’t be resolved informally or through internal procedures, an employee may choose to take the matter to an employment tribunal. As an employer, understanding the steps involved can help you prepare and respond effectively.
Here is an overview of the typical process (this is intended as a brief guide and doesn’t cover any aspect of the complete procedure. Please seek advice from our litigation team for your specific circumstances):
- Early conciliation: Before a claim can be made, the employee must contact Acas for early conciliation. This is a confidential service aimed at resolving disputes without the need for a tribunal. If a settlement isn’t reached, Acas will issue a certificate allowing the employee to proceed.
- Claim submission: The employee (claimant) submits an ET1 claim form to the tribunal, setting out their complaint. As the employer (respondent), you’ll then receive a copy and have 28 days to respond using an ET3 form.
- Case management: Once the claim and response are in, the tribunal may issue directions or hold a preliminary hearing to clarify the issues, set a timetable, and decide whether the case can be heard in-person or remotely.
- Preparation: Both sides will prepare their evidence and witness statements. This includes sharing relevant documents and agreeing a bundle of materials to be used during the hearing.
- The hearing: The tribunal hearing is where both parties present their case, usually with witness evidence and cross-examination. A judge (and sometimes panel members) will consider everything and make a decision.
- The outcome: The tribunal may give its decision on the day or send it in writing afterwards. If the claim is successful, they will decide what compensation or remedy should be awarded. Either party may appeal on certain grounds.
While many cases settle before reaching a full hearing, it’s vital to take each step seriously and be well-prepared.
Need help defending your business?
Our team of employment law specialists and litigation team can guide you through the claims process, help protect your business, and give you peace of mind at every stage of an employment tribunal. Book a free consultation with our friendly team today.
Explore our fixed-fee Employment Law support
Advice Line
Fast, pragmatic, commercial. Our Employment Law & HR advice line gives you and your managers access to truly unlimited advice on all of your people-related challenges, from the seemingly straightforward to the most complex.What sorts of things can you advise on?
HR matters come with the territory when you run a business or manage an organisation and we’re here to help you through it all. Whether you’re battling absenteeism, struggling to manage an underperforming employee or need help navigating a complicated exercise like redundancy, we can walk you through the steps required to handle the situation appropriately.
Is everything dealt with through one team?
Yes. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means a full range of employee issues can be dealt with within your dedicated three-person team. In the event that you’re presented with an Employment Tribunal claim, we will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team so that they are well equipped to defend you.
Find out moreContracts and Handbooks
Whether you have nothing in place or just need an expert review, our Employment Law specialists can carefully craft your employment contracts and employee handbooks to guarantee compliance and provide the flexibility you need as an employer.What are the risks of not having the right contracts in place?
Failing to provide an employee with a contract could lead to additional compensation being awarded to an employee who successfully makes another sort of claim against their employer. In addition, a number of practical problems could be caused by having incorrect contracts, such as paying too little (or too much) notice, getting holiday entitlement wrong and failing to protect legitimate business interests in the face of an employee leaving for a competitor.
How often do HR policies need to be reviewed?
Whenever there are changes to UK employment legislation, such as the recent changes to bereavement leave or the Good Work Plan, it’s important to make sure your contracts, handbooks and policies are updated accordingly. We can take the pressure off by alerting you to any such changes and helping you to implement them in your documentation and practices.
Find out moreDrafting Letters and Documents
From the most straightforward warning for poor attendance to complex grievance outcome letters and everything in between, our Employment Law solicitors can draft all your employment documents to save you valuable time and stress.What sorts of documents can you draft?
Just about anything and everything you might need during the employment relationship. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means we can support you with a full spectrum of advice and documentation, from first written warnings to new contractual clauses, to a policy you might not have in your handbook, plus more complex legal documents like settlement agreements and redundancy outcome letters.
I’ve got a HR team and just want templates we can use. Do you have a resources bank?
Yes, our fixed-fee Employment Law and HR support includes full access to our Knowledge Hub, available through MyEW, which contains most of the templates we work from. If you have an internal HR team, you may prefer to access these and tailor them yourselves. However, for more complex cases, we would always suggest engaging with our legal advisers as it can be all too easy to word something in a way that leaves you exposed.
Find out moreeLearning
Tired of classroom training, or unable to take time out? Raise awareness of best-practice around workplace issues and prevent HR headaches with our flexible, cost-effective eLearning courses.
What types of courses are available?
Our ever-growing library of eLearning courses currently covers over 100 topics, including HR courses such as Equality & Diversity, Sexual Harassment and Social Media Use; soft skills courses such as Communication, Leadership and Change Management; and compliance courses such GDPR, Anti-Money Laundering and the Bribery Act. We also offer an extensive range of Health & Safety courses, including Accident Reporting, Risk Assessment and First Aid. Download the full course catalogue.
How much do the courses cost?
All of our eLearning courses are free for the first year when you purchase our Employment Law & HR or Health & Safety managed service. This means you’re not paying per head or per course, which not only keeps down but gives you complete cost certainty over your training expenses. This is particularly handy if your workforce is growing, as you won’t need to purchase extra licenses, giving you exceptional value for money.
Legal Expenses Insurance
An optional component of our Employment Law and HR support, by underpinning our advice with Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI), you have maximum reassurance that your business is protected against unfair dismissal and other costly employee claims.
I’ve never had a claim before – why would I need to take LEI?
For the same reason you take out any insurance policy – to guard against the high cost of defending an Employment Tribunal claim. The premium cost is very low compared to the potential payout, especially as it covers the cost of representation as well as any potential compensation. You don’t have to have LEI, but it could significantly impact your bottom line if something goes wrong, given that the cost of even the most basic unfair dismissal claim could be £20-25,000 when legal costs are factored in. Unfortunately, the latest Tribunal statistics suggest that employers now are more vulnerable than ever.
Can you deal with Employment Tribunal claims, or is this triaged outside of EW?
Should you receive a claim, your dedicated Employment Law adviser, who will have dealt with the matter up until that point, will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team. They will explain the case history, share all the relevant documentation and offer their views on the prospects of the claim. Our Litigation Team will then take over all the prep work, including drafting a defence, producing bundles, dealing with Acas and the other side, and briefing counsel. Rest assured this is a smooth process, with everything kept inside EW, and you will be in safe hands throughout.
Management Information
Discipline, performance, absenteeism. We’ll show you exactly where your dedicated Employment Law advisers are spending their time so that you can target key problem areas for more productive, high-performing teams. Recommended for large organisations with high case volumes.What detail does the MI provide?
The report will highlight what sorts of issues we are advising on and who/where in your business those questions are coming from. That way, we can easily spot problem areas, bring them to your attention and recommend steps to address the issues.
What sorts of recommendations do you typically provide?
We will provide practical and pragmatic recommendations to address whatever common problems are arising. The exact nature will depend on the sort of issues but could include training of managers in certain areas or the production of additional guidance and documentation to guide them through tricky subjects.
Find out moreMyEW
From document templates to HR Software, MyEW gives you all the tools you need to manage even the trickiest employee issues, improve efficiencies and get the answers you need, fast.
What sorts of issues can I find guides and templates on?
We have hundreds of guidance notes and accompanying templates covering a full spectrum of employment-related issues, including Maternity, Pay, Flexible Working, Holidays, Performance and Redundancy. All of these resources are created by our experts, and if you require further support or have any questions, you can contact your dedicated team of advisers for practical advice and guidance.
What does the HR Software do?
There can be a great deal of administration involved in managing employees, and the burden only increases as your business grows. If filing cabinets of employee information is no longer cutting it, our HR Software will help to automate your processes, save valuable time and manage HR tasks at the touch of a button. Use it to store and organise employee data and essential documents; manage and report on holidays, absence, timesheets and rostering; stay on top of employee reviews; maintain a comprehensive employee directory, and keep a record of training and development.
Why choose us?
Experts in tribunal claims support for the employer
Across the UK, WorkNest has supported hundreds of businesses with claims. We can help protect your organisation’s finances and reputation with an expert team of employment law specialists. Seek legal advice today for:
- Your own small team of dedicated experts
- Commercial, pragmatic advice tailored to you
- Bespoke contracts, policies and handbooks
- Trusted by over 35,000 organisations
- Recognised as a leading firm by the Legal 500
- Advice on expected legal costs
Who you’ll be working with
Angela Carter
Director of Legal Services
Toyah Marshall
Head of Team
Toyah Marshall
Principal Employment Law Adviser
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FAQs
How can I work out the chances of success at an employment tribunal?
The precise chances of success at Tribunal can be very difficult to accurately measure. It requires a careful review of the relevant law and the evidence in a case before an opinion can be offered. Even then, the best one can hope for is a view of whether a certain party is more likely to win or lose. Beyond that there are far too many variables to be too precise.
How can I handle an employment tribunal for discrimination?
Any Tribunal claim is difficult for a lay person to handle and that is even more so in a claim for discrimination. These sorts of claims often revolve around complex legal concepts and it really is best to have a professional in your corner. They can identify the issues, advise you on the process, identify and seek out relevant documents and prepare the case for you. This would include the collation of documents into a paginated bundle, the preparation of witness statements, and the instruction of a barrister to argue your case in Tribunal.
How are employment tribunal decisions made?
This depends on the type of case. For some straightforward claims, such as those for wages, holiday pay or unfair dismissal, a Judge alone will hear the case and make a decision based on the evidence. For more complex claims, or unfair dismissal with an element of discrimination or whistleblowing, the case will be heard by a three-person panel – a Judge and two lay people. Of the two members, one will usually have a background in HR/business and the other in trade unions. The idea being you then have an industrial jury who have experience from both an employer and employee perspective.
How much does an employment tribunal cost?
Since 2017, it does not cost anything to make a tribunal claim and that has seen the number of claims increase exponentially. If a disgruntled employee wants to make a claim against you, all they need is a laptop and a spare 10 minutes. Once that claim is submitted, you’re into a process which is not easy or quick to get out of. The average compensation payment in an unfair dismissal claim is around £15,000 and legal fees can often match that. More complex case types such as discrimination can cost more, with the average award for age discrimination in 2019/20 coming in at £38,794. As a result, it makes sense to have the benefit and peace of mind of Legal Expenses Insurance which can cover these costs.
Can I get free employment tribunal advice?
Not as an employer. Some charities or legal professionals offer free advice to employees but hardly ever to employers. ACAS act as mediators in all Tribunal claims but they are not legal professionals and cannot give legal advice. That’s why it makes sense to have a legal professional fighting your corner and getting you the best outcome possible.
What outcome can I expect from a redundancy tribunal case?
Compensation. Most successful claims brought by an employee result in the employer having to pay compensation. The average award for unfair dismissal over the past 12 months is a little over £15,000. In some cases, a Tribunal can order that a previously dismissed employee be reinstated but those cases are fairly rare.
Can you help us to detect issues before they result in a claim?
Yes. For organisations with larger case volumes, we can produce MI reports to uncover any emerging issues and problem hotspots. That way, you can recognise, and with our help resolve, employee issues before they escalate into full-blown claims.
Will training reduce the risk of employment tribunal claims?
Mismanagement can exacerbate employee issues and, in some cases, can leave you exposed to Employment Tribunal claims. Our range of HR training courses can minimise this risk by increasing awareness of Employment Law and best practice in essential topics such as Discipline & Grievance, Equality & Diversity and Performance Management.
Will you take care of the documentation involved in an employment tribunal claim?
Yes. We draft pleadings, including any responses to Further and Better Particulars, deal with disclosure of documents and work with potential witnesses to draft statements for agreement and approval.
