Last updated: 5th July 2023
How is the award for unfair dismissal compensation calculated?
Use our calculator below to work out what your unfair dismissal compensation may be.
PLEASE NOTE: In all scenarios you will have needed to work for the company for more than 2 years, unless your claim relates to automatic unfair dismissal, discrimination or whistleblowing.
Your basic award
In order to calculate your unfair dismissal compensation, you first need to calculate your basic award. This is calculated based on various factors, these being your length of service at the date of dismissal, your age at the date of dismissal and your gross weekly salary.
- If you are older than 41 at the date of dismissal you will receive 1.5 weeks pay (this is capped at £643/week gross as at 6 April 2023) for every full year you have worked over the age of 41 plus 1 weeks pay for every year you have worked below the age of 41. The number of years worked is capped at 20
- If you are younger than 41 but older than 22 at the age of dismissal, you multiply the number of full years worked (capped at 20) by 1 and then multiply this figure by your gross weekly pay (this is capped at £643/week gross).
- If you are younger than 22 at the age of dismissal, you multiply the number of full years worked (capped at 20) by 0.5 and then multiply this figure by your gross weekly pay (this is capped at £643/week gross).
As at 6 April 2023 the maximum basic award for unfair dismissal is capped at £19,290.
Your compensatory award
In addition to this, you may be awarded a compensatory award, however this cannot be calculated so easily as it depends on various factors which the Employment Tribunal will consider based on various factors. These include:
- Future loss of earnings;
- Immediate loss of earnings;
- Loss of your employment rights;
- Loss of benefits and pension rights;
Other factors to consider
If your dismissal relates to any of the following, your compensation can be unlimited:
- Health and Safety grounds. ie if you raise a health and safety concern and are subsequently dismissed for it;
- Whistleblowing. ie if you make a protected disclosure – please see our whistleblowing page for more details on this;
- Discrimination. ie if you have been discriminated against on the grounds of your sex, age, race, disability etc.
Potential reductions to your award
There are other factors that the tribunal will consider when making an award, these include reductions for:
- Any money already paid to the employee after they have been dismissed;
- If the employee has contributed in any way to their dismissal;
- If the tribunal considers that, despite the procedural errors by the employer, the employee would have been dismissed anyway. This is called a “Polkey reduction”;
- If the employee has failed to mitigate their loss. ie they have made little or no effort to find other work;
- If an employee fails to comply with the ACAS code.
Redundancy
If you have been made redundant, please see our redundancy calculator to find out what you should be paid if you are made redundant.
Contact us now
If you have been unfairly dismissed please contact us now on 020 3835 3940 or 020 3835 3940. Alternatively, you can submit your details via our quick and simple enquiry form or if you need to speak with a lawyer urgently you can make a Talk to Tom priority appointment.