Standard Terms
These are our standard terms and conditions. The hourly rate we charge will be set out in writing to you specifically, when we give you our terms of business.
Contact details
The name of the person handling the matter is Amanda Galashan or Julie Calleux.
Employease: The Employment Practice Ltd is a limited company.
Our address for correspondence is:
Employease: The Employment Practice Ltd
20-22 Wenlock Road, London, England, N1 7GU
Our Registered office address is:
20-22 Wenlock Road, London, England, N1 7GU
Our registered company number is: 2931940
Telephone number: 0333 939 8741 or 0203 858 0658
Email: jcalleux@employease.co.uk
Employease: The Employment Practice Ltd is a limited company.
Employease: The Employment Practice Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN 836248. Its registration is recorded on the website: https://register.fca.org.uk/
‘Employease’ is a trading name of Employease: The Employment Practice Ltd.
Identity
Could you please forward to us a copy of two forms of identification. This can be a copy of your passport or driving licence and something with your home address on it such as a utilities bill.
Our services
We will assist you in resolving disputes with your employer or previous employer. As part of this process we will review the documentation you provide and will conduct a fact find with you to gather information pertaining to your dispute. We will advise on the merits of your potential claims. We will attempt to resolve your dispute, so far as is possible, outside of the tribunal process. We will assist and facilitate liaison between you and your employer or previous employer. This will include either us corresponding directly with your employer or previous employer on your behalf or assisting you in preparing for formal meetings or drafting correspondence which you send to your employer or previous employer. The vast majority of disputes we deal with settle before the employment tribunal stage.
In the event that your claim proceeds to the tribunal we will draft claim correspondence on your behalf and submit the same to the respondent. We will either represent you at tribunal or engage an external barrister under our license access. The merits of either route will be discussed and agreed with you beforehand. We will liaise with your employer or previous employer until conclusion of your claim.
You should be aware that you do not have to be represented by us or a lawyer to bring a tribunal claim. You may be able to obtain free advice from citizen advice bureau or local law centre. You should also check your insurance policies to see if you have legal insurance.
Risks
Please be aware that there are risks associated in making a claim against your employer or previous employer. This includes financial risks such as paying our service fees and our professional disbursements set out in the disbursement section of our terms. It is to be noted that where a claim proceeds to tribunal you will be liable to pay our service fee irrespective of the outcome. Awards for legal costs in employment tribunals are rare. You are very unlikely to have a claim for costs against you if you lose your claim, you are also very unlikely to recover our fees if you win in the tribunal. The non-financial risks involved in making a claim includes the emotional distress of addressing the dispute or pursuing the claim and appearing in the tribunal.
Fees
We charge a rate of £250 per hour plus VAT.
We record all time spent on your matter and charge you to the nearest fifteen minutes.
If your matter has been resolved through a settlement agreement, there is usually a contribution included in the agreement towards our fees. Once we have the agreement and have discussed matters with you, we will advise you as to whether the fees are sufficient. On completion of your matter, we will invoice your employer or previous employer for their contribution to your fees (the invoice is usually in your name but marked payable by the company) and we will invoice you separately for anything in excess of the contribution.
For example, if we assist you with a grievance and this involves 10 hours of work, our service fee would be £2,500+VAT. If your grievance is resolved through a settlement agreement, we will typically recover legal fees from your employer, which will be used to offset our service fee. The average legal fees is £500 + VAT. This means that if you receive compensation of £25,000 and your employer pays £500 + VAT towards legal fees, you would pay us £2,000+VAT (£2,400) and you would retain £22,600 of your compensation.
We may charge a different hourly fee in different circumstances. For example, where a client is based in a different legal jurisdiction such as Scotland. This will be discussed with you prior to entering into an agreement with us.
Disbursements
We also charge for payments we make on your behalf or are liable to make to third parties. These are shown as “Disbursements paid” on our invoices.
The circumstances where we would charge you disbursements are where your case proceeds to a tribunal and you agree for us to instruct a barrister under our license access. We would pay the barrister’s fees and claim these back from you. In the event that your claim proceeds to a tribunal we would pay the administration costs (namely, printing and photocopying costs) associated with creating your tribunal bundles. This cost will be claimed back from you. Any disbursements will be agreed with you beforehand and you will not incur any costs unless you expressly agree to them.
VAT
VAT is charged at the rate applicable at the date of the invoice.
Fixed price
We often give fixed prices for a particular project. If we believe it is appropriate to charge through a fixed price, we will discuss this with you and agree a fixed price before commencing the work. We will confirm the fixed price and payment terms in writing at the start of the project. Our fixed price will be calculated with reference to an hourly rate for the project.
Time for payment
Invoices are payable within fourteen days of their date. If the matter is on going, you will be billed once a month for work completed in that month. Otherwise, you will receive an invoice on completion of the matter.
If the invoice is not paid, we will send a statement requesting immediate payment. If you do not pay, we will not carry out any further work for you and charge interest at 10% per year on the full amount of the account (including VAT) from one month from the date of the invoice. You are welcome at any time to ask how much our charges are to date.
Increase in charges
You have been informed of the current charging rates above. Rates are normally reviewed upwards on 1st January each year.
Our guarantees
- To treat your matter with complete confidentiality.
- To ensure that you understand, step by step, the progress of our work, or the operation of any particular document or policy we design for you.
- To discuss both costs and time with you at the earliest moment and as the matter progresses.
Your commitment
- To co-operate with Employease in progressing the matter we are handling for you.
- To pay our fees promptly as and when they are due.
Steps you will need to take
- You will need to provide us with your contract of employment, your remuneration details including any benefits such as pension or company car, copy of all correspondence relating to the dispute including emails or messages at the start of the claim.
- If the dispute with your employer is not resolved through your employer’s own process and procedure, you will need to instruct us if you wish to attempt to settle through ACAS, and if that fails whether you instruct us to pursue your claim in the employment tribunals.
Communication
We will keep you informed of the progress of the matter on a regular basis. This will depend on the nature of your matter. We will forward any correspondence received on your behalf within 24 hours of receiving it. If correspondence needs to be discussed with you we will arrange a call or a meeting within 48 hours. We will contact you within two weeks of any tribunal deadline at the latest. You are welcome to telephone or write to us to ask for a progress report. If the person handling the matter is unavailable, please feel free to speak to her colleague who will usually be able to answer your question or arrange for her to call you back.
If the person handling the matter requests information or requires instructions from you, we would request that you respond as promptly as you are able. If you delay providing the information or instructions requested, you may jeopardise the progress of the matter.
Complaints
Any complaint received is taken seriously and is dealt with in accordance with our complaints handling procedure which is designed to resolve any issues quickly and efficiently. If you wish to make a complaint it should be addressed to: Julie Calleux, Employease: The Employment Practice Ltd, 1 Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1BR. Complaints can also be sent via e-mail to: info@employease.co.uk, or made by telephone by calling: 0333 939 8741.
If after 8 weeks you are not satisfied with our response or the complaint has not been resolved, you may refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service by visiting their website: https://cmc.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
Cooling off period
We operate a 14 days cooling off period. What this means is that you have 14 days from receipt of these terms of business to change your mind about appointing us without incurring any cancellation fees. If you would like to change your mind, please let us know in writing and we will not commence work on your behalf.
Employees often have to act within a short deadline imposed by their employers. Consequently it is often in your best interest for us to carry out work within the 14 days cooling off period.
Signing the enclosed consent form amounts to an express request for us to provide you with our services within the 14 day cooling off period. Please note that you will lose your right to cancel the agreement within 14 days without incurring a cancellation fees liability. If you exercise your right to cancel within 14 days we will charge you the value of the work that we have undertaken up to the point that you cancel at a charge of £250+VAT per hour. Please do not sign the consent form if do not wish for us to provide our services within the 14 day cancellation period.
Cancellation
If you decide that you do not want to proceed with our services you can cancel your contract by any reasonable means at any time. You can complete the cancellation notice provided with this agreement and return it to us.
If you exercise your right to cancel, we will charge you the value of the work that we have undertaken up to the point that you cancel at a charge of £250+VAT per hour.
We can cancel this agreement if you materially breach any of your responsibilities and you fail to rectify your material breach within 21 days of us telling you which we will attempt to do by both telephone, post and email.
If you wish to accept these terms of business, please sign and date where indicated below. Please return the signed and dated terms to the address for correspondence above or scan and email it to info@employease.co.uk
Client signature:………………………………………………………
Client name:……………………………………………………………
Date:………………………………………………………………………
Cancellation Notice
To: Employease: The Employment Practice Ltd, 20-22 Wenlock Road, London, England, N1 7GU, Tel: 0333 939 8741, Email: info@employease.co.uk
I/We [*] hereby give notice that I/We [*] cancel my/our [*] contract for the supply of the following service [*]
Ordered on [*]/ received on [*]
Name of consumers:
Address of consumers:
Signature of consumers (only if this form is notified on paper):
Date:
[*]Delete as appropriate