Should You Represent Yourself, or Hire a Solicitor?
There's no single right answer. It depends on your case, your budget and how comfortable you are handling the process yourself. Here's what you might experience.
Typical range to take a contested claim to a full Tribunal hearing, billed mostly by the hour.
- Billed by the hour, typically £250–£450/hr.
- A barrister for the hearing is often a further cost: typically at least £1,500 plus VAT for the brief fee, with at least £1,000 plus VAT for each second and subsequent day in Tribunal. Actual fees may be multiples of this.
- Hearings often do not conclude within the time estimated, so costs can escalate unexpectedly.
- Costs usually can't be recovered, even if you win.
- Fees often exceed the value of smaller claims.
12 Video Guides covering the key procedural stages in an Employment Tribunal process, purchased individually or £299.00 inc. VAT for the Full Series (an instalments option is available).
- One-off cost, no hourly billing.
- Built by a former Partner in employment law at leading law firms, not a generic template.
- Covers the key procedural stages, from ACAS early conciliation and filing your ET1, to Final Submissions.
Even if you instruct a solicitor, you can still buy our Video Guidance to sense-test the advice you are getting and to make a head start on key documents such as your witness statement, to help reduce your costs.
Neither Option Is Free of Trade-Offs
If You Hire a Solicitor
You gain expertise, some (but not all) distance from the stress of the process and have someone on your side who's done this before. You will still need to give up your time to check everything and you'll have to give up thousands of pounds to instruct them. That money is very rarely recovered, even if you win, since Tribunals rarely award costs. For many people, the fee simply isn't affordable or proportionate to what's at stake.
If You Represent Yourself
You gain control of your case and will keep far more of any award, for a fraction of the cost. You give up having someone else carry the process for you, so you'll need to put in the time and effort to find out about and manage the process and stay organised. Employment Tribunals are designed to allow claimants to represent themselves without needing a solicitor's help, which is why this is a realistic option for many claimants.
Also, ask yourself whether a recently qualified or unqualified representative has the time or sufficient skill to do a good job for you, or whether you'd be better off doing it yourself.
“Any Tribunal claimant who is prepared to step into the process and give it a reasonable amount of their time and attention can definitely represent themselves. There is a huge amount of guidance available online but it can be daunting knowing where to begin and how to fit it all together. After all, you don't know what you don't know. That's what I wanted to fix. My Video Guidance walks claimants through the whole process, helping them to build a solid pathway from the List of Issues onwards, either giving the detailed information that's needed or showing claimants where to find it. It's got to be right: helping claimants to be more informed and better prepared is a win, not just for claimants but for the whole Tribunal system.”
Founder, Tribunal-Ready · Former Leading Employment Lawyer
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Whichever route feels right, you don't have to decide today. Explore the Video Guidance or see what happens at each stage of a claim first.