Employment Tribunal Award Calculator

Tribunal compensation for unfair dismissal comes in two parts, worked out on completely different principles. The basic award follows the statutory redundancy formula, paying half a week's pay for each year of service worked under the age of 22, a full week for years worked between 22 and 40, and one and a half weeks for each year from 41 onwards. A weekly pay cap applies, currently £751, which limits what high earners can recover. The multiplier is capped at 30 weeks, so the basic award tops out at 30 times £751, or £22,530.

The compensatory award is the larger figure in most cases and covers actual financial loss: earnings lost between dismissal and finding new work, lost pension contributions, the loss of statutory rights that comes with starting again elsewhere, and expenses incurred looking for a job. It is capped at the lower of 52 weeks' pay or £123,543 for 2026/27, so anyone earning below that figure is limited by the 52-week measure rather than the money cap.

Feeding in your age, length of service, weekly pay and type of claim produces an estimate of both parts. Ordinary unfair dismissal awards realistically land between £5,000 and £25,000. Someone aged 35 with 6 years of service on £600 a week would see a basic award of £3,600, and if it took 26 weeks to find new work, £15,600 of lost earnings plus £500 for loss of statutory rights, coming to £19,700 altogether.

Two years of continuous service is the threshold for an ordinary unfair dismissal claim, and without it the claim usually fails before the merits are reached. The exceptions matter. Dismissal for trade union activity, pregnancy, whistleblowing or asserting a statutory right counts as automatically unfair and carries no service requirement at all. Claims must be brought within 3 months of dismissal, extended to 6 months for some reasons, and Acas Early Conciliation has to be attempted first. Tribunal fees were abolished in July 2017 after the Supreme Court ruled them unlawful, so bringing a claim costs nothing.

Discrimination claims sit outside the whole cap structure. The Equality Act 2010 protects age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation, and no minimum service is needed to claim. Financial loss is uncapped and serious cases can exceed £100,000. On top of that sits an award for injury to feelings, set by the Vento bands at £1,300 to £12,600 in the lower band, £12,600 to £37,700 in the middle and £37,700 to £62,900 in the upper. Aggravated or exemplary damages are possible in the worst cases, and the time limit is 3 months from the act complained of.

Most claims never reach a hearing. Acas Early Conciliation is free and confidential and runs for 6 weeks, and around 75% of claims are resolved without a tribunal ever sitting. A settlement agreement is legally binding and requires the employee to take independent legal advice, which the employer usually contributes £500 to £1,500 towards. Amounts typically land between 3 and 12 months' salary, depending on how strong the claim looks.