This guide covers England, Wales and Scotland. Employment law differs in Northern Ireland.
In brief: Bullying on its own is not a claim an Employment Tribunal can hear. Compensation is awarded for the legal claim the bullying amounts to: harassment related to a protected characteristic, constructive dismissal, whistleblowing detriment or victimisation. Where tribunals awarded injury to feelings in bullying cases, the median was £9,000, and most of the money awarded was for lost earnings.
Last updated: November 2026
By Yerty | This guide was created using analysis of tribunal cases and official ACAS/Gov.uk guidance.
Compensation for Bullying at Work: What You Can Claim and How Much
If you are being bullied at work, the first question is usually whether you can do anything about it, and the second is what it would be worth. The honest answer to the first question shapes the second: there is no claim called "bullying", so the amount depends entirely on which legal claim your situation actually fits.
This guide takes the questions in that order. What a tribunal can and cannot hear, which claim your bullying might fall under, how compensation is worked out, and what tribunals have actually awarded in cases where bullying was part of the story.
Important: This guide provides information about employment law in England, Wales and Scotland. Yerty is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Every situation is different. If you are being bullied and are thinking about resigning or bringing a claim, consider speaking to a solicitor before you act.
Can you claim compensation for bullying at work?
Not for bullying as such. GOV.UK puts it in one line: "Bullying itself is not against the law, but harassment is." Acas says the same: bullying is not against the law in itself, but harassment related to a protected characteristic is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010.
What that means in practice is that an Employment Tribunal has no jurisdiction to hear a complaint that says only "I was bullied". It can hear a complaint that the bullying was harassment because of your race, sex, disability or another protected characteristic, that it forced you to resign, that it was a reprisal for whistleblowing, or that it followed a discrimination complaint. The bullying is the evidence; one of those claims is the legal wrong.
Yerty's review of published tribunal judgments bears this out. In cases where the judgment discusses bullying, 68% included an unfair or constructive dismissal claim, 65% included a discrimination claim of some kind, 31% a harassment claim, 26% a victimisation claim and 19% a whistleblowing claim. None was a "bullying claim", because there is no such thing.
Which claim does your bullying fall under?
The route depends on why the bullying happened and what it led to. The table below is the fork most people face.
| What happened | The claim | Where | Service needed | Time limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The bullying was related to your age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, or was conduct of a sexual nature | Harassment, Equality Act 2010 s.26 | Tribunal | None | 6 months minus 1 day from the last act |
| The bullying followed a complaint you made about discrimination | Victimisation, Equality Act 2010 s.27 | Tribunal | None | 6 months minus 1 day from the last act |
| The bullying followed a protected disclosure (whistleblowing) | Detriment, Employment Rights Act 1996 s.47B | Tribunal | None | 6 months minus 1 day from the last act |
| You resigned because of the bullying or your employer's failure to deal with it | Constructive unfair dismissal, ERA 1996 s.95(1)(c) | Tribunal | 2 years (6 months from 1 January 2027) | 6 months minus 1 day from the resignation taking effect |
| The bullying was severe enough to be a criminal course of conduct | Protection from Harassment Act 1997 | Civil court | None | 6 years |
| The bullying caused a diagnosed psychiatric injury the employer should have foreseen | Personal injury (negligence) | Civil court | None | 3 years |
The statutory wording matters because tribunals apply it, not a dictionary definition of bullying. Section 26(1) of the Equality Act 2010 says:
"A person (A) harasses another (B) if (a) A engages in unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, and (b) the conduct has the purpose or effect of (i) violating B's dignity, or (ii) creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for B."
The words to notice are "related to a relevant protected characteristic". Section 26(5) lists seven: age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Pregnancy and marriage are protected characteristics elsewhere in the Act but are not on that list, though pregnancy-related conduct is often argued as related to sex. Section 26(2) separately covers unwanted conduct of a sexual nature. Conduct that would be harassment if it related to your race or disability is not harassment under the Act if it does not.
For whistleblowing, section 47B(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 says a worker "has the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by his employer done on the ground that the worker has made a protected disclosure". Bullying that starts after you raise a concern can be that detriment, if the disclosure qualifies. Yerty's whistleblowing guide explains what counts.
For victimisation, section 27(1) covers detriment "because B does a protected act", which includes making a discrimination complaint or grievance. Bullying that follows a complaint can therefore be a claim even where the original complaint fails.
What if the bullying has nothing to do with a protected characteristic?
This is the gap most people fall into, and it is worth being plain about it.
If the bullying is not related to a protected characteristic, did not follow a protected disclosure or discrimination complaint, and you are still employed, there is no Employment Tribunal claim available to you for the bullying itself. Your options are internal: a grievance under your employer's procedure, which the Acas Code of Practice expects employers to deal with fairly, and, if that fails, deciding whether to stay.
If you resign because of it, the claim becomes constructive unfair dismissal. Section 95(1)(c) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 treats an employee as dismissed where they resign "in circumstances in which [they are] entitled to terminate it without notice by reason of the employer's conduct". Serious bullying, or an employer's failure to act on a grievance about it, can breach the implied term of trust and confidence that every employment contract carries. That claim needs two years' service for dismissals taking effect before 1 January 2027, and six months after that date. It is also a claim about the ending of your employment, so it compensates lost earnings, not hurt feelings. Yerty's guides to constructive dismissal and constructive dismissal payouts cover it in detail.
Outside the tribunal, two civil-court routes exist. A claim under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 requires conduct serious enough to be criminal, and a personal injury claim requires a diagnosed psychiatric injury that the employer could reasonably have foreseen. Both are specialist litigation with their own rules and costs, and both need a solicitor. They are mentioned here so the picture is complete, not because they are a realistic route for most workplace bullying.
What compensation can each claim pay?
Bullying is not a claim, so there is no "bullying compensation". What a tribunal can award depends on the claim the bullying is brought under, and the claims pay for different things.
| Claim | Financial loss | Injury to feelings | Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harassment (Equality Act s.26) | Yes | Yes, Vento bands | None |
| Victimisation (Equality Act s.27) | Yes | Yes, Vento bands | None |
| Whistleblowing detriment (ERA s.47B) | Yes | Yes, Vento bands | None |
| Constructive or unfair dismissal (ERA s.95, s.98) | Yes: compensatory award | No | Lower of a year's pay or £123,543 for dismissals from 6 April 2026; cap due to go in 2027 |
| Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (civil court) | Yes | Yes, as damages for anxiety and distress | None |
| Personal injury (civil court) | Yes | No; damages for the injury itself | None |
Financial loss is what the treatment cost you in money: lost earnings if you resigned or were dismissed, lost pension, loss of statutory rights, sometimes treatment costs. Injury to feelings compensates the distress, and is only available in the discrimination-family claims and whistleblowing detriment. A constructive dismissal claim for bullying with no discrimination element therefore compensates lost pay and nothing for how you were treated. That is the single biggest driver of how much a bullying situation is worth, and it is decided by the claim, not by how bad the bullying was.
Smaller heads can be added to any of the tribunal claims: aggravated damages where the employer's conduct was high-handed or malicious (discrimination claims only), damages for a diagnosed personal injury, interest, and an uplift of up to 25% where the employer unreasonably failed to follow the Acas Code of Practice, for example by ignoring your grievance.
Injury to feelings awards follow the Vento bands, set by the Presidents of the Employment Tribunals and updated each April. For claims presented on or after 6 April 2026 the lower band is £1,300 to £12,600 (less serious cases, including one-off incidents), the middle band £12,600 to £37,700, and the upper band £37,700 to £62,900 for the most serious cases, such as a lengthy campaign. Awards above £62,900 are reserved for exceptional cases. The bands are guidance, not a tariff.
What have tribunals awarded in cases that involved bullying?
Because bullying is not a claim, there are no "bullying cases" to count. What Yerty did was identify published Employment Tribunal judgments in England, Wales and Scotland whose text discusses bullying, and look at which claims those cases were brought under, how those claims fared, and what was awarded where they succeeded. Single-claimant cases only.
| Claim | Share of cases discussing bullying | Claim upheld | Median total award where upheld | Median injury to feelings where awarded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal (any) | 68% | 32% | £13,700 | n/a (£12,750 where a discrimination claim also succeeded) |
| Any Equality Act discrimination claim | 65% | 23% | £17,500 | £9,000 |
| Harassment (s.26) | 31% | 17% | £12,700 | £7,750 |
| Victimisation (s.27) | 26% | 14% | £18,700 | £10,000 |
| Whistleblowing detriment (s.47B) | 17% | 13% | £14,900 | too few to report |
| Constructive dismissal | 8% or more | 25% | £19,200 | n/a |
Cases usually carry more than one claim, so the shares add to more than 100%. "Total award" is the whole award in the case, across every claim won, not a sum attached to the bullying. The constructive dismissal row rests on 30 cases, so treat it as indicative.
Across all injury to feelings awards in these cases, the median was £9,000, half fell between £4,950 and £15,450, and the highest was £44,000. 44% were in the lower Vento band, 50% in the middle and 7% in the upper; none exceeded the upper band. That distribution is almost identical to discrimination cases that do not mention bullying, so the presence of bullying did not by itself move awards into a higher band.
Where awards were itemised, 79% included financial loss and 34% injury to feelings. Aggravated damages appeared in 2% and personal injury in 3%. An Acas Code uplift was applied in 19%, most often at 10%, 15% or the full 25%.
These figures come from cases that reached a published judgment with reasons. Settled and withdrawn cases are largely absent, which is why success rates look low: most claims in the set were decided on the merits. The full breakdowns, including by year, nation and region, are in Yerty's findings on bullying in Employment Tribunal judgments.
What affects how much you might receive?
The factors depend on the claim, because each claim has its own legal test and its own evidential burden. The difference in success rates in the table above is largely the difference in those thresholds, not in how serious the bullying was.
In every claim: your financial loss. How long you were out of work, what you earned before and after, pension, and what you did to find other work. Failure to mitigate reduces the award.
In harassment, victimisation and whistleblowing detriment: the link and the effect. The claim is won or lost on whether the tribunal accepts that the conduct was related to the protected characteristic, or done because of the protected act or disclosure; the employer will offer its own explanation, and most unsuccessful claims in the set failed there. Once liability is established, injury to feelings is placed by the seriousness and duration of the conduct and the evidence of its effect on you, where medical evidence from a GP or occupational health carries real weight.
In constructive dismissal: the breach and your response to it. The conduct must amount to a fundamental breach of contract, usually of the implied term of trust and confidence; you must have resigned in response to it, and without delay. Delay, or resigning for another reason, is the most common reason these claims fail. The award is financial loss only.
In any tribunal claim: the grievance. Whether you raised one, how your employer responded, and whether that response followed the Acas Code. An unreasonable failure to follow the Code can add up to 25%; failing to raise a grievance yourself can reduce an award.
How long do you have to act?
The time limit depends on the claim, but for anything that happened on or after 1 October 2026 the period is 6 months minus 1 day for all of the tribunal claims below. What differs is when the clock starts.
| Claim | Clock starts |
|---|---|
| Harassment, victimisation, whistleblowing detriment | The act complained of, or the last act in a continuing series, so a long campaign may be in time even if the early incidents are not |
| Constructive dismissal | The date your resignation takes effect |
| Unfair dismissal | The effective date of termination |
| Dismissal for whistleblowing (s.103A) | As above, but an application for interim relief must be made within 7 days of dismissal |
| Protection from Harassment Act (civil court) | 6 years from the conduct |
| Personal injury (civil court) | 3 years from the injury or knowledge of it |
Events before 1 October 2026 keep the previous limit of 3 months minus 1 day. Before most tribunal claims you must notify Acas; early conciliation lasts up to 12 weeks and pauses the clock. Yerty's Acas Early Conciliation guide explains the process. An internal grievance or appeal does not pause it.
How Yerty can help
If this is happening to you now, the Yerty Claimant Hub gives you a structured route through a workplace dispute, including a free Workplace Assessment, guided stages and tools for organising your evidence.
For the research behind this guide, see Yerty's analysis of bullying in published tribunal judgments.
Frequently asked questions
Can you sue your employer for bullying in the UK?
Not for bullying as such. There is no standalone legal claim for workplace bullying. A tribunal can hear a claim where the bullying amounts to harassment related to a protected characteristic, victimisation, whistleblowing detriment or constructive dismissal. Civil courts can hear Protection from Harassment Act and personal injury claims in serious cases.
How much compensation do you get for bullying at work?
There is no bullying compensation as such; the amount depends on the claim the bullying is brought under. In Yerty's review of tribunal judgments that discuss bullying, median total awards ranged from about £12,700 where harassment succeeded to about £19,200 where constructive dismissal succeeded, and the median injury to feelings award was £9,000.
Is bullying at work illegal?
Bullying itself is not against the law. Harassment related to a protected characteristic is unlawful under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010. Bullying can also be a detriment for whistleblowing or victimisation, or a breach of contract serious enough to support constructive dismissal if you resign because of it.
Can you claim for bullying if it is not discrimination?
Only indirectly. While you remain employed, a tribunal cannot hear a claim about non-discriminatory bullying. If you resign because of it, you may have a constructive unfair dismissal claim, which needs two years' service until 1 January 2027 and six months after that. Civil-court routes exist for the most serious cases.
What is the Vento band for bullying?
The Vento bands apply to injury to feelings in discrimination and whistleblowing claims, not to bullying as such. For claims presented from 6 April 2026 the bands are £1,300 to £12,600, £12,600 to £37,700 and £37,700 to £62,900. In Yerty's review, 44% of injury to feelings awards in bullying cases were in the lower band and 50% in the middle band.
Do you get compensation for injury to feelings in a constructive dismissal claim?
No. Constructive unfair dismissal compensates financial loss: lost earnings, pension and statutory rights, capped at £123,543 for dismissals from 6 April 2026. Injury to feelings is only available where a discrimination or whistleblowing detriment claim succeeds alongside it.
Does raising a grievance affect compensation?
It can. If your employer unreasonably fails to follow the Acas Code of Practice when handling your grievance, a tribunal can increase your award by up to 25%. In Yerty's review, an Acas uplift was applied in 19% of awards in bullying cases. Failing to raise a grievance yourself can also reduce an award.
How long do you have to claim for bullying at work?
For events from 1 October 2026, 6 months minus 1 day. For harassment the clock runs from the last act in a series; for constructive dismissal, from the date your resignation took effect. You must notify Acas first, and early conciliation pauses the clock. Earlier events keep the previous 3-month limit.
Sources
- Workplace bullying and harassment, GOV.UK
- If you're treated unfairly at work: being bullied, Acas
- Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, Acas
- Equality Act 2010, section 26, legislation.gov.uk
- Equality Act 2010, section 27, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 47B, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 95, legislation.gov.uk
- Presidential Guidance: Employment Tribunal awards for injury to feelings and psychiatric injury, Ninth Addendum, Judiciary of England and Wales, March 2026
- Employment tribunal time limits: changes from 1 October 2026, Business.gov.uk / Department for Business and Trade
- Unfair dismissal rights: changes from 1 January 2027, Business.gov.uk / Department for Business and Trade
- Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026, legislation.gov.uk
- Protection from Harassment Act 1997, legislation.gov.uk
Yerty's tribunal findings are based on published Employment Tribunal judgments from England, Wales and Scotland whose text discusses bullying, single-claimant cases only, reviewed to 1 November 2026. Percentages are shares of that set, not of workplace bullying generally.