Employment Tribunal Awards Increase April 2017
So its that time of year again where changes are made, I thought I would just write briefly about what changes there are to tribunal awards as I know this is a concern for my clients and I question I get asked a lot is how much could it cost me if things go wrong.
From April 2017, there has been an increase in the maximum compensation award for unfair dismissal.The table below lists the potential maximum awards if the worst case scenario occurs and employment matters go wrong.
| Employment Right | Maximum Award 2016 | Maximum award 2017 |
| Unfair Dismissal Maximum Basic Award (unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy payment) |
£14,370 | £14,760 |
| Unfair Dismissal Compensatory Award | £78,962 | £89,541 |
| A weeks Pay | £479 | £489 |
| Whistleblowing | No Limit | No Limit |
| Discrimination | No Limit | No Limit |
| Breach of Contract | £25,000 | £25,000 |
The figures above are scary, especially those that have no limit, below are average costs that have been awarded against the compensation maximums for 2015/2016. Figures taken from report from The Ministry of Justice.
| Maximum Award | Average Award | |
| Unfair dismissal | £470,865 | £13,851 |
| Sex Discrimination | £1,762,130 | £85,622 |
| Race Discrimination | £43,735 | £14,185 |
| Disability Discrimination | £257,127 | £21,729 |
| Age Discrimination | £16,263 | £9,025 |
| Religious Discrimination | £45,490 | 19,647 |
| Sexual Orientation Discrimination | £20,192 | £20,192 |
How can you reduce the risk, use HR! Based on the above figures can you afford not to take professional advice on HR and Employee related matters?
