Vento Bands & Employment Tribunal Awards
How much can you win in an employment claim? There's no easy employment tribunal compensation calculator, as each case is often made up of multiple claims, which are calculated by different methods and are subject to individual caps. However, we have broken down each type of claim and the methods you can use to calculate what your potential employment tribunal payouts might be, plus the employment tribunal compensation limits on each award.
For an accurate estimate of what you could win, contact one of our employment solicitors to get a case assessment specific to your circumstances, with an honest presentation of your options moving forward.
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Vento bands
Vento bands are the price brackets for 'injury to feelings' compensation which the employment tribunal can award in discrimination claims and some whistleblowing claims. Injury to feelings employment tribunal awards are separate from any compensation for financial loss suffered by the claimant. The Vento bands are guidelines and the tribunal does not have to adhere to them but they will factor them in when deciding how much compensation to award.
The Vento bands from April 2022 are as follows:
Lower Band | One off incidents of discrimination | £990 to £9,900 |
Middle Band | More serious incidents which do not merit the higher band, including serious one-off incidents | £9,900 to £29,600 |
Higher Band | The most serious incidents such as ongoing campaigns of discrimination which result in depression, anxiety, or extreme distress. | £29,600 to £49,300 |
The tribunal does not have to award anything for injury to feelings and in some exceptional cases will award more than the higher limit.
Employment tribunal compensation calculator
To get an accurate calculation of the employment tribunal compensation that you could win, a qualified solicitor will need to ascertain which claims your case covers, how much you usually earn, how much you have lost in earnings or other benefits, whether you have done all you can, within reason, to resolve your dispute and to what severity you have sustained any 'injury to feelings', as well as many other considerations.
Only then can they give you a realistic answer as regards to whether your case is worth pursuing and whether you could be awarded more than your costs. For this reason we recommend a case review from one of our expert employment solicitors, to assess your case and advise you regarding your next steps.
To get an idea of what employment tribunal award you could be looking at, check out the options below.
Employment tribunal payouts
‘Such as the tribunal considers just and equitable in all the circumstances’
This award is compensation for any loss of earnings and any other losses caused directly by the dismissal.
It can include:
- Loss of contractual pay
- Loss of future pay
- Loss of pension
- Loss of contractual benefits
- Loss of car allowance
- Loss of statutory rights
- Loss of insurance benefits
- Loss of discretionary bonus or commission, if you reasonably expected to receive them
This award for unfair dismissal claims is capped at a statutory maximum, which is £93,878 where the effective date of termination is on or after 6 April 2022. Your solicitor will explain if your award will be capped at the statutory maximum.
There is no cap to the compensatory award in certain protected cases such as whistleblowing or discrimination.
You are responsible for minimising your losses. You will need to provide evidence for your attempts to find alternative employment since your dismissal.
If the dismissal was unfair because the correct procedure was not followed, but the tribunal find that you would have been dismissed anyway, they will reduce your compensatory award by up to 100%
If your behaviour (misconduct) contributed to the dismissal they can reduce your compensatory award.
You will be paid a number of week’s pay for each full year of your employment, depending on your age in that year.
From 41 | From 22 to 40 (inclusive) | Under 22 |
| 1.5 week’s pay per year | 1.0 week’s pay per year | 0.5 week’s pay per year |
Your basic award for your unfair dismissal claim will be calculated on a maximum of 20 years employment, so the calculation works backwards from the effective date you were dismissed to get you the best rate.
The week’s pay is based on your weekly pay at the time of dismissal, but is subject to a statutory maximum, which is reviewed every year. Your solicitor will explain if your weekly pay calculation will be capped at the statutory maximum.
If your selection for redundancy was unfair, this is unfair dismissal by reason of redundancy.
If you have been paid a statutory redundancy payment, the employment tribunal will reduce your basic award by the amount of your redundancy pay. If your employer fails to prove that the main reason for your dismissal was redundancy, the basic award will not be reduced.
Usually you will only win back the money that was unlawfully deducted or withheld. However, in some cases you might also get some compensation for other financial loss as a result, such as bank charges.
You can claim for your usual wages, your notice pay (or pay in lieu of notice - PILON), any outstanding holiday pay, sick pay or other leave pay, and redundancy pay, if you can show that your dismissal was due to a genuine redundancy situation at your workplace. See breach of contract below for other pay issues, such as unpaid travel expenses.
In many discrimination cases you will be bringing a your claim alongside unfair dismissal, financial detriment, harassment, whistleblowing, or some other claim. Those awards are separate and should be calculated as such. For the personal insult, you may also be awarded an injury to feelings award, which can be roughly calculated according to the Vento bands as explained at the top of this page.
It can be very difficult to prove detriment. Most cases of detriment will fall into discrimination, which is protected by The Equality Act 2010. However, if you are being mistreated simply because your employer has a personal issue with you, or, if you have been unfairly dismissed but do not have the required length of service to bring an unfair dismissal claim, you may be able to claim for detriment.
You will have to prove that the detriment you suffered was intentional and a result of you trying to use or assert a protected employment right, such as insisting on your statutory rest breaks, or refusing to work in unsafe conditions.
If you are able to prove detriment, you can claim for compensation which is for financial loss, or, like in a discrimination claim, you may be able to claim for injury to feelings. To calculate your potential employment tribunal compensation, check out the Vento bands at the top of this page.
To calculate your potential employment tribunal compensation for financial detriment you will need to show how much money you lost. For example, if your employer consistently gave less suitable, favoured employees promotions that you had applied for, you could calculate the increase in earnings you might have had, had you been promoted.
Most breach of contract claims involve unpaid wages, including holiday pay, sick pay and pension contributions. In these cases the amount you can claim for is the amount you are owed, however, it may be easier to make a claim for unlawful deduction of wages.
Unpaid contractual pay which is not covered by unlawful deduction of wages (but is covered by breach of contract) includes:
- Non payment of travel expenses
- Non payment for notice period
- Non payment in lieu of notice
Again these are all straight forward as you can claim for the amount that you are owed.
You can also claim under breach of contract for changes to the terms of your employment, your pay or your place of work, that you did not agree to. For example, if your contract includes a company car, but at some point your employer changes their policy and takes your car away. In this example, you may be able to claim for the cost of hiring a car, or public transport expenses. If your workplace moves and you have to make a substantial commute or spend the working week in another town, you may be able to claim compensation for these expenses.
You can also claim under breach of contract for failure to follow the correct disciplinary or grievance procedure, if this causes you a financial loss.
For example:
- You lost your job because of an improper disciplinary procedure and the resulting bad reference meant that you were unemployed for six months while looking for a new job. You could try to claim for 6 months pay.
- You raised a grievance of harassment which was not properly investigated and the outcome meant that you had to continue working alongside them. You had to take extended leave on statutory sick pay due to stress. You could try to claim for the loss of earnings.
- There was disciplinary procedure against you which was not conducted properly. You were found guilty. According to company policy this means you do not get a discretionary bonus this year. You could try to claim for the bonus.
The employment tribunal limit breach of contract compensation awards to £25,000.
If you think you are owed a higher award, you can seek this at the civil court instead. However, if you have been awarded £25,000 by the employment tribunal, you cannot then take the resolved claim to court to seek more compensation.
Aggravated damages employment tribunal
Aggravated damages compensation is only rarely awarded in cases where your employer knowingly and deliberately acted against you & against the law or they aim to hurt you or are rude or dismissive during the hearing. This could amount to thousands of pounds.
Employment tribunal costs awards
The employment tribunal only order costs awards if one party has been obstructive, uncooperative or dishonest in regards to the case, or wasted tribunal time. If you are confident in your claim(s) and have the money to pay the costs upfront, you may be better off taking your claim to court. (Not all employment claims can go through the civil courts, check if your claim can, here). Generally, at court, the losing party will be ordered to pay the costs of the winning party.
If you don't cooperate or follow procedure, or, you withdraw your case at the last minute, the employment tribunal may order you to pay your employer's costs. Remember, if they are a big company with corporate lawyers, this could be very expensive. Always follow the rules and don't begin a claim you don't intend to see through. If you have to withdraw, make sure to do it in good time before your hearing date.
Average employment tribunal awards (2019/2020)
Maximum Award | Median Award | Average Award | |
Unfair Dismissal | £118,842 | £6,646 | £10,812 |
Racial Discrimination | £30,330 | £8,040 | £9,801 |
Sex Discrimination | £73,619 | £14,073 | £17,420 |
Disability Discrimination | £265, 719 | £13,000 | £27,043 |
Religion/Belief Discrimination | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Age Discrimination | £243,636 | £11,791 | £38,794 |
Sexual Orientation Discrimination | £96,645 | £9,245 | £27,936 |
Employment tribunal compensation limits (2022)
Claim | Minimum Award | Maximum Award |
Weekly pay | n/a | £571 |
Basic award for unfair dismissal and redundancy | n/a | £17,130 (30 weeks' pay subject to the limit on a week's pay) |
Compensatory award for unfair dismissal | n/a | £93,878 (or 1 year's salary, whichever lower) |
Compensatory award for certain automatic unfair dismissals (whistleblowing, health and safety) | n/a | Unlimited |
Additional award for failure to comply with reinstatement or re-engagement order | n/a | £14,846 - £29,692 (26-52 weeks' pay maximum) |
Dismissal is unfair by virtue of health and safety, employee representative, trade union, or occupational pension trustee reasons | £6,959 | n/a |
Unlawful exclusion/expulsion from trade union | £10,628 | £111,008 |
Daily amount of guarantee payments | n/a | £31 (subject to a maximum of five days or £155 in any three months) |
Failure to allow right to be accompanied correctly | n/a | £1,142 (two weeks' pay capped at the statutory amount) |
Failure to give written statement of particulars | n/a | ££1,142 or £2,284 (two or four weeks' pay capped at the statutory amount) |
Flexible working regulations | n/a | £4,568 (eight weeks’ pay capped at the statutory amount) |
Frequently Asked Questions
In the year 2019-2020 the average unfair dismissal award was £10,812
In the year 2019-2020 the average disability discrimination award was £27,043
Do you have a problem with your employer?
There is much more to winning your case than simply being in the right, our specialist employment solicitors know all the laws and tactics, to make sure you get the best chance at a fair settlement. Get in contact with us and see how we can help.
Employment Law Specialist | Competitive Quotes | Straight Talking Legal Support
This content is provided free of charge for information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on as such. No responsibility for the accuracy and/or correctness of the information and commentary set out in the article, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed or accepted by any member of our company. For employment law advice you can click here to organise a meeting with one of our panel of employment law solicitors.
This content is provided free of charge for information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on as such. No responsibility for the accuracy and/or correctness of the information and commentary set out in the article, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed or accepted by any member of our company. For employment law advice please get in contact and speak to your employment law solicitors.
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