Tribunal award limits

A. The limits change annually, taking effect at the beginning of April. This year, the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2017 has been put before Parliament and will come into effect on 6 April

The award for unlawful inducements under section 145 of the Trade Union Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, relating to the undermining of trade union membership, activities and collective bargaining, will increase from £3,830 to £3,907. In addition, for dismissals on or after 6 April 2017, the minimum basic award in unfair dismissal claims will rise from £5,853 to £5,970 and the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will rise from £78,962 to £80,541. 


The maximum amount of “a week’s pay” for calculating a redundancy payment and awards such as the basic award of compensation for unfair dismissal will increase from £479 to £489. 


It is also worth noting that a new discount rate for personal injury compensation claims was recently announced by the government. 


Since 2001, a discount of 2.5% has been applied to lump sum compensation payments for personal injury (including personal injury in discrimination claims), to take account of interest earned from investing the payment. From 20 March 2017, the discount rate has been adjusted to 0.75%.