Discrimination claims – New Vento Bands

The Presidents of the Employment Tribunals in England and Wales and in Scotland have published their response to the consultation launched in July 2017 on uprating the bands of compensation for injury to feelings in discrimination cases. The Presidents have decided that the appropriate bands are now: a lower band of £800 to £8,400 for less serious cases; a middle band of £8,400 to £25,200 for cases that do not merit an award in the upper band; and an upper band of £25,200 to £42,000 for the most serious cases, with only the most exceptional cases capable of exceeding £42,000.

The proposal to uprate the bands came as a result of the Court of Appeal’s decision in De Souza v Vinci Construction (UK) Ltd (Brief 1074) that employment tribunals must increase compensation for injury to feelings and personal injury in discrimination cases by 10%, in line with the Court of Appeal’s decision in Simmons v Castle 2012 EWCA Civ 1039. The new bands will be set out in formal Presidential Guidance and will apply to claims presented on or after 11 September 2017. For claims presented before that date, it will be open to the tribunal to adjust the bands to reflect inflation, and the Presidential Guidance will provide the methodology for doing so.

Link to consultation response: https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/vento-consultation-response-20170904.pdf