This article applies to England, Wales and Scotland.
In brief: Tribunal compensation is built from your actual financial loss, not a fixed tariff. In the most recent published Ministry of Justice tables the median unfair dismissal award was £6,746 and the median disability discrimination award £17,218. Ordinary unfair dismissal is capped at £123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay from 6 April 2026, whichever is lower.
Last updated: August 2026
By Yerty | Analysis of published Employment Tribunal decisions and official MoJ/HMCTS statistics.
Understanding what your claim is worth can be difficult at first. There are a lot of headline figures in circulation, and the categories of compensation are confusing until someone sets them out.
This guide breaks compensation down in two ways: what can affect the value of your claim, and what awards have actually come to across thousands of decided cases. It also covers the statutory limits that apply from April 2026 and the adjustments a tribunal can make to the final figure.
Important: This guide provides information about UK employment law. Yerty is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Data describes past cases and cannot predict the outcome or value of any individual claim.
What Tribunal Compensation Is Made Of
There is no tariff for being sacked. Outside of discrimination, tribunals compensate financial loss, which means the calculation starts with your payslips rather than with how badly you were treated.
An unfair dismissal award has two parts. The basic award is a statutory sum worked out from your age, your complete years of service up to a maximum of twenty, and your gross weekly pay subject to a cap. It uses the same formula as statutory redundancy pay, so length of service drives it entirely. Our guide to how the basic award is calculated sets out the multipliers.
The compensatory award is the larger element in most cases and the more variable one. It covers what the dismissal actually cost you: net earnings lost between the dismissal and the hearing, continuing losses if you are still out of work or earning less, employer pension contributions you would have received, contractual benefits, and a small conventional sum for loss of statutory rights. Our guide to what the compensatory award covers goes through each head.
Two things then bite on that figure. Anything you have earned since the dismissal is deducted, and tribunals expect you to have looked for comparable work, which is the mitigation rule. Someone who walks into an equivalent job three weeks later may have a strong claim on liability and a very small award.
Discrimination claims work differently. Alongside financial loss they carry injury to feelings, which compensates for the impact of the treatment itself and is assessed against a set of bands according to how serious and sustained the conduct was. Injury to feelings is why discrimination medians sit consistently above unfair dismissal medians, and it is available even where you lost no money at all.
Pay claims are the most mechanical. What is owed is what was not paid.
What Awards Have Actually Come To
| Claim | Median award | Maximum award |
|---|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal | £6,746 | £179,124 |
| Race discrimination | £10,253 | £431,768 |
| Sex discrimination | £16,161 | £995,128 |
| Disability discrimination | £17,218 | £964,465 |
Source: MoJ Employment Tribunal and EAT Tables 2023 to 2024, covering cases that reached a compensation award.
The unfair dismissal median of £6,746 comes from 646 claims that resulted in an award that year. Half came in below it. The £995,128 in the right-hand column was one sex discrimination case out of thousands, and there is one of those most years.
Averages are worse than useless here. A single seven-figure award drags the mean well above anything a typical claimant would see, which is why the figures above are medians and why the eye-catching "average payout" numbers that circulate online should be treated with suspicion.
The Statutory Limits from 6 April 2026
Where the effective date of termination falls on or after 6 April 2026:
| Limit | Figure |
|---|---|
| Maximum compensatory award, ordinary unfair dismissal | Lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay |
| Limit on a week's pay | £751 |
| Maximum basic award | £22,530 |
| Minimum basic award, certain automatically unfair dismissals | £9,157 |
| Maximum breach of contract award at tribunal | £25,000 |
| Discrimination and whistleblowing | No limit |
These come from the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026. The limit that applies is the one in force when the dismissal took effect, not when the case is heard, so a dismissal in March 2026 is governed by the older figures. The £25,000 ceiling on breach of contract claims brought at tribunal sits under a separate order and has not moved for years.
The dual cap catches people out. Compensation is limited to the lower of £123,543 or a year's gross pay, and for most claimants it is the second limb that binds. Someone earning £30,000 is effectively capped at around £30,000 of compensatory award no matter how long they remain out of work. Yerty's analysis of published decisions found the £123,543 figure itself constrains only around 5 to 7 per cent of compensatory awards, almost all of them high earners.
None of this applies to dismissals for whistleblowing or health and safety reasons, which are uncapped. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 the cap on ordinary unfair dismissal is due to go entirely from 1 January 2027.
The Adjustments That Move the Final Number
A tribunal can raise or cut the award once it has calculated the loss. Across roughly 30,040 awarding cases in the published record, three adjustments account for most of the movement:
- ACAS Code uplift, in about 9.8% of cases, raising the award by a median of 17%
- Polkey reduction, in about 6.3% of cases, cutting it by a median of 49%
- Contributory fault, in about 5.9% of cases, cutting it by a median of 40%
A Polkey reduction applies where the tribunal accepts the dismissal was procedurally unfair but concludes you might well have been dismissed anyway had the employer done everything correctly. If a tribunal decides there was a 50% chance of that, it can halve the compensatory award. Contributory fault works similarly where your own conduct played a part in what happened.
The uplift runs the other way. If your employer fails to follow the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, a tribunal can increase your compensation by up to 25%. If you fail to follow it, your award could be reduced by up to 25%.
Why Most Claims Never Produce an Award Figure
In 2025/26, 86.3% of tribunal disposals ended before a final hearing. Claims are withdrawn, settled through ACAS conciliation, or resolved privately between the parties.
Those outcomes are invisible. Settlements are confidential, they never appear in the award tables, and a good number of them are worth more than the medians above because employers pay to avoid the cost and exposure of a hearing. Every published award figure describes the minority of cases that were fought all the way through and won, which makes it a poor guide to what a claim is worth as a negotiating position.
Of the claims that did reach a final hearing and were fought to a conclusion in 2025/26, 42.1% succeeded. Our guide to employment tribunal success rates explains how that figure is built and why it cannot be mixed with the disposal figures. For settlement patterns, see our guide to how likely claims are to settle.
Yerty's analysis of 48,548 contested claim rulings from published judgments in cases begun since 2020 shows how much the odds vary by claim type. Pay claims resting on payslips and arithmetic succeed in most contested rulings. Claims that require a tribunal to draw conclusions about why a manager behaved as they did succeed far less often. A large potential award attached to a claim that rarely succeeds is worth less, in practice, than a modest one that usually does. These outcome rates are provisional while the underlying extraction work continues.
Working Out a Realistic Range for Your Own Claim
You do not need to be a legal expert to get within range of a sensible figure, and it is worth doing early because it governs whether settling is sensible and at what level.
Start with what you have actually lost. Net weekly pay multiplied by the weeks you have been out of work, less anything you have earned since, gets you most of the way to the compensatory award. Add employer pension contributions and any benefits you lost. If you are still unemployed, estimate how much longer that is likely to last and be prepared to justify the estimate, because tribunals discount optimistic future-loss figures that come without evidence of a job search.
Then check the ceiling. For ordinary unfair dismissal your compensatory award cannot exceed a year's gross pay, so if your calculation exceeds that figure, that is your answer. Add the basic award on top, which service length and age determine.
Discrimination changes the arithmetic because injury to feelings is added and no cap applies. That is also the point where a range becomes harder to estimate alone.
Two people dismissed from the same job on the same day routinely end up with very different awards, because everything after the dismissal differed. This is why tribunals require a schedule of loss setting out the figures line by line, rather than accepting a round number.
Common Misconceptions
"The maximum is what I could get." For ordinary unfair dismissal the 52 weeks' pay limb usually binds long before the statutory cap. Most claimants are limited by their own salary and how quickly they found new work.
"I'll be compensated for what they put me through." Not in an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. The compensatory award covers financial loss, and there is no general award for distress or injured feelings. That element exists only in discrimination and certain whistleblowing detriment claims.
"Tribunal awards are tax free." Compensation for lost earnings is generally taxable as the earnings would have been, subject to limited exemptions. Where tax is due, tribunals may gross up the award to account for it.
"A bigger claim is a better claim." An inflated schedule of loss damages credibility with both the tribunal and the other side, and it makes settlement harder rather than easier.
What to Do Next
If you are working out what a claim might be worth, options may include:
- Gather the raw figures. Payslips, contract, pension statements and a record of anything earned since
- Work out loss to date and likely future loss, then check it against the 52 weeks' pay limb
- Identify which elements apply. A discrimination claim carries components an unfair dismissal claim does not
- Look at what comparable decided cases produced, by claim type and circumstances
- Check your deadline. Most tribunal claims must currently start within 3 months minus 1 day of the act complained of, and you must contact ACAS before submitting an ET1. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 this extends to 6 months where the relevant date falls on or after 1 October 2026, and 9 November 2026 for breach of contract claims in Scotland
For complex or high-value claims, you may still want to speak with a solicitor.
How Yerty Can Help
Yerty Intelligence Hub structures published Employment Tribunal decisions into searchable data on awards, outcomes and timelines, with every figure traceable back to the judgment it came from. Explore the Intelligence Hub to see what the record holds for claims like yours.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average employment tribunal payout?
The median is the more useful figure. In the most recent published MoJ tables the median unfair dismissal award was £6,746 and the median disability discrimination award was £17,218. Averages sit higher because a small number of very large awards pull them upwards.
How is employment tribunal compensation calculated?
For unfair dismissal, a basic award based on age, service and weekly pay is combined with a compensatory award covering actual financial loss, principally lost earnings and pension. Earnings since the dismissal are deducted. Discrimination claims add injury to feelings.
What is the maximum an employment tribunal can award?
Discrimination and whistleblowing compensation is uncapped, and the highest award in the most recent published tables was £995,128. Ordinary unfair dismissal is capped at the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay for dismissals from 6 April 2026.
Does the compensation cap apply to my claim?
Usually the 52 weeks' pay limb binds first. Analysis of published decisions suggests the £123,543 figure itself constrains only around 5 to 7 per cent of compensatory awards. The cap is due to be abolished entirely from 1 January 2027.
Why are discrimination awards higher?
Discrimination compensation is uncapped, and it includes injury to feelings for the impact of the treatment itself. That element is available even where the claimant lost no earnings, which lifts the median above unfair dismissal.
Can my award be reduced?
Yes. A Polkey reduction applies where a fair procedure might have led to dismissal anyway, and a contributory fault reduction where the claimant's conduct played a part. In the published record each cuts awards by a median of roughly 40 to 50 per cent where applied.
Do most tribunal claims end in an award?
No. In 2025/26, 86.3% of disposals ended before a final hearing, through withdrawal, ACAS conciliation or private settlement. Award figures describe only the minority of claims fought to a conclusion and won.
Do I have to look for another job while my claim is running?
Tribunals expect claimants to take reasonable steps to find comparable work, and future loss is assessed on that basis. Keeping a record of applications and interviews from the start protects the future-loss element of a claim.
Sources
- "Tribunal Statistics: Employment Tribunal and EAT Tables 2023 to 2024", Ministry of Justice — https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
- "Tribunal Statistics Quarterly", Ministry of Justice / HM Courts & Tribunals Service, 2025/26 — https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
- The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/310/schedule/made
- Employment Rights Act 1996, sections 118 to 126 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/X
- "Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures", Acas — https://www.acas.org.uk/acas-code-of-practice-on-disciplinary-and-grievance-procedures
- "Employment Rights Act 2025", Acas, 2026 — https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025
- Analysis of published Employment Tribunal decisions, cases begun 2020 onwards, Yerty Index — https://yerty.co.uk/yerty-index/methodology