This article applies to England, Wales and Scotland.
In brief: A schedule of loss is the document setting out, line by line, the money you are asking the tribunal to award. There is no official form. For unfair dismissal it covers the basic award and the compensatory award, using net figures for lost earnings, and it must account for anything you have earned since.
Last updated: August 2026
By Yerty | This guide was created using analysis of tribunal cases and official ACAS/Gov.uk guidance.
Being asked for a schedule of loss is often the first time anyone has to put an actual figure on what has happened to them. There is no official form, no worked template attached to the order, and usually a deadline of a few weeks.
This guide covers what the document is, what tribunals look for in one, how to build each section, and a full worked example of a completed schedule for an unfair dismissal claim.
Important: This guide provides information about UK employment law. Yerty is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Every situation is different. If your case is complex or high value, consider speaking to a solicitor for advice specific to your circumstances.
What a Schedule of Loss Is and When You Need One
A schedule of loss sets out the compensation you are claiming, broken into separate heads with the calculation shown for each. It tells the tribunal and the respondent what you are asking for and how you arrived at it.
Tribunals almost always order one as part of case management directions, either at a preliminary hearing or in written orders after the ET3 response comes in. The order will give a date for exchanging it, usually some weeks before the final hearing so both sides can consider the figures in advance.
Two things about the document surprise people. It is not fixed: the figures change as time passes and circumstances change, and updating it before the hearing is normal rather than a sign you got it wrong. And it does far more work outside the hearing room than in it. A clear, credible schedule tells the other side what their exposure looks like, which is often what moves a case towards settlement.
What Tribunals Actually Look For
Reading across published remedy judgments, the same handful of things separate schedules that judges work from easily from schedules they have to unpick.
The arithmetic is shown, not just the answer. A line reading "loss of earnings: £14,000" invites the respondent to dispute all of it. A line showing the weekly net figure, the number of weeks, and the deduction for new earnings can only be argued with on its components.
Net figures for earnings, gross for the basic award. Past and future loss of earnings compensate what you would have taken home, so they are calculated on net pay. The basic award uses gross weekly pay subject to the statutory cap. Mixing the two is the error tribunals see most often, and it inflates a schedule in a way that damages credibility on everything else in it.
Future loss is evidenced, not asserted. Where a claimant says they expect to be out of work for another six months, tribunals look for a reason to accept that period: the state of the job market for that role, applications made, interviews attended. Judgments regularly reduce future loss periods that arrive without supporting material.
Mitigation is visible. Tribunals expect claimants to take reasonable steps to find comparable work, and remedy judgments frequently discuss the job search in detail. A schedule that shows earnings from new work being deducted reads as honest.
The figures match everything else. Where the schedule, the ET1 and the witness statement give different dates or salary figures, the discrepancy gets found and it costs the claimant credibility.
Nothing is claimed twice. Notice pay recovered as a separate wrongful dismissal claim cannot also sit inside the compensatory award for the same weeks. Double recovery is one of the more common corrections tribunals have to make.
Step by Step: Building Your Schedule
Step 1: Assemble the source figures
Before writing anything, collect your date of birth, your start date and dismissal date, your continuous service in complete years, your contractual notice period, your gross weekly pay and your net weekly pay. Payslips and your contract cover almost all of it. If your pay varied, an average over the twelve weeks before dismissal is the conventional approach.
Step 2: Head the document properly
Case number, the parties' names, the date of the schedule and a short list of the key figures from Step 1. This lets the judge check any line in the schedule without hunting through the bundle.
Step 3: Calculate the basic award
The basic award depends on your age, your complete years of service up to twenty, and your gross weekly pay capped at £751 for dismissals on or after 6 April 2026. Our guide to how the basic award is calculated sets out the multipliers by age band. If you received a statutory redundancy payment, say so, because it reduces the basic award.
Step 4: Calculate past loss of earnings
Run from the dismissal date to the date of the remedy hearing. Multiply your net weekly pay by the weeks you were out of work, then deal with any period you were earning again. Where the new job pays less, the claim is for the weekly shortfall rather than the whole amount.
Step 5: Estimate future loss
If you are still out of work or still earning less at the date of the hearing, future loss covers the period you expect that to continue. Choose a period you can justify, and be ready to explain it.
Step 6: Add pension and benefits
Employer pension contributions you would have received are recoverable and often overlooked. So are contractual benefits with a cash value, such as a car, private medical cover or a bonus you would have qualified for. Pension loss in long-service or final-salary cases can be complex enough to be worth advice.
Step 7: Add loss of statutory rights and expenses
A conventional modest sum is awarded for loss of statutory rights, reflecting the fact that you have to build up service again elsewhere. Reasonable expenses of looking for work can also be claimed.
Step 8: Note anything that adjusts the total
If your employer ignored the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, a tribunal can increase the compensatory award by up to 25% under section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, and it is worth saying so in the schedule. If you failed to follow the Code, your award could be reduced by up to 25%. Also flag whether you are claiming interest, which is available in discrimination claims, and whether the £30,000 tax threshold is in play.
Step 9: Check the total against the cap
For ordinary unfair dismissal the compensatory award cannot exceed the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay. For most claimants it is the 52 weeks' limb that binds. If your compensatory total comes out above a year's gross salary, the excess is not recoverable and the schedule should acknowledge that rather than leave the tribunal to apply it.
Worked Example
An illustration for a simple unfair dismissal claim. The figures are fictional.
SCHEDULE OF LOSS Claimant: A Nolan | Respondent: Hartley Components Ltd | Case No: 1234567/2026 Prepared: 14 September 2026
Agreed figures Date of birth: 4 March 1980 | Age at dismissal: 45 Employment: 6 January 2018 to 3 February 2026 | Complete years' service: 8 Gross weekly pay: £600 | Net weekly pay: £460 Employer pension contribution: 5% of gross (£30 per week) Notice period: 8 weeks (paid in full on dismissal)
1. Basic award 10 weeks' pay (4 years at 41+ at 1.5 weeks, 4 years at 1 week) × £600 = £6,000
2. Past loss of earnings (3 February 2026 to 12 October 2026, 36 weeks) Weeks 1 to 20, unemployed: 20 × £460 = £9,200 Weeks 21 to 36, new role at £395 net, shortfall £65: 16 × £65 = £1,040 Subtotal: £10,240
3. Future loss of earnings Continuing shortfall of £65 per week for 26 weeks = £1,690
4. Pension loss 36 weeks × £30 employer contribution = £1,080
5. Loss of statutory rights £600
Compensatory award subtotal: £13,610 Statutory cap check: 52 weeks' gross pay = £31,200. Cap not engaged.
TOTAL CLAIMED: £19,610
The Claimant claims an uplift of up to 25% on the compensatory award under s.207A TULRCA 1992 for the Respondent's failure to follow the ACAS Code, and reserves the right to update this schedule.
Three things make this schedule work. Every line can be checked against a payslip or a date. The new job appears in the document rather than being left for the respondent to discover. And the cap has been applied by the claimant rather than left as an argument for the other side to win.
Common Mistakes Self-Reps Make
Using gross pay for loss of earnings. It inflates the claim by roughly the value of your tax and National Insurance and it is the first thing a respondent's representative will pick up.
Leaving out new earnings. Anything earned since the dismissal comes off the claim. Omitting it is the fastest way to lose the tribunal's confidence in every other figure.
Claiming an open-ended future loss. A schedule asking for two years of future loss with nothing to support the period invites the tribunal to substitute its own, usually much shorter, figure.
Forgetting pension. In a long-service case employer contributions can be one of the larger heads, and it is routinely left out of self-drafted schedules.
Claiming injury to feelings in a straight unfair dismissal case. That head exists in discrimination and certain whistleblowing detriment claims. It is not available for ordinary unfair dismissal, however badly the dismissal was handled.
Treating the schedule as final. Circumstances change between the order and the hearing. An updated schedule served in good time is expected.
Discrimination Claims: What Changes
Where the claim includes discrimination, the same financial heads apply and two more are added.
Injury to feelings compensates the impact of the treatment rather than any financial loss, and it is assessed against a set of bands according to how serious and sustained the conduct was. It is available even where you lost no earnings.
Interest is available on discrimination awards and is usually calculated from the date of the discriminatory act on the injury to feelings element, and from a midpoint on past financial loss.
Personal injury and aggravated damages arise occasionally where the facts support them, and both are areas where advice is worth taking.
Tax, Grossing Up and Recoupment
The first £30,000 of compensation paid in connection with the termination of employment is generally free of income tax under the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003. Above that, the balance is taxable, and tribunals often gross up the award so that the claimant receives the intended amount after tax.
Injury to feelings is not automatically outside this. Where the discrimination is connected with the termination, that element counts towards the £30,000 and is taxable above it. Where it relates to treatment during employment rather than the dismissal itself, it may fall outside. The distinction has been litigated repeatedly and is worth flagging in the schedule rather than assumed.
Separately, where you received universal credit or jobseeker's allowance during the period covered by past loss of earnings, recoupment rules allow the Department for Work and Pensions to recover those benefits from part of the award. The tribunal will identify the recoupable sum in its judgment.
Deadlines and Practical Logistics
The date for exchanging the schedule comes from the tribunal's case management order, so check that document rather than working to a general rule. Send it to both the tribunal and the respondent, keep the version you sent, and take copies for the hearing if the tribunal has asked for hard copies.
Time limits for the claim itself are separate and much stricter. 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. Our guide to ACAS early conciliation explains how that stage pauses the clock. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 that 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. Our guide to tribunal deadlines and time limits covers how the clock works.
What Happens Next
The respondent may serve a counter-schedule disputing your figures, which is normal and not a sign that anything has gone wrong. Where the two documents differ, the difference is usually the length of the future loss period, the adequacy of the job search, or whether an adjustment applies.
Remedy is often dealt with at the end of the final hearing, though tribunals sometimes list a separate remedy hearing where the figures are complex. For a fuller picture of how compensation is built and what awards have come to, see our guide to what an employment tribunal claim is worth, and our guide to the tribunal process from ET1 to hearing.
How Yerty Can Help
Yerty Case Hub keeps the material behind a schedule of loss in one place: your documents, key dates, deadlines and case timeline, so the figures are traceable when you need to justify them. Explore Case Hub to see how it works.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a schedule of loss?
It is a document setting out the compensation you are claiming from an employment tribunal, broken into heads such as the basic award, past loss of earnings, future loss and pension, with the calculation shown for each. There is no official form.
When do I have to send my schedule of loss?
The date comes from the tribunal's case management order, usually some weeks before the final hearing. Tribunals often ask for a draft early in proceedings and an updated version closer to the hearing.
Do I use gross or net pay in a schedule of loss?
Loss of earnings is calculated on net pay, because it compensates what you would have taken home. The basic award uses gross weekly pay, capped at £751 for dismissals on or after 6 April 2026. Mixing the two is a common error.
What can I include in a schedule of loss?
For unfair dismissal: the basic award, past and future loss of earnings, employer pension contributions, contractual benefits, loss of statutory rights and job-search expenses. Discrimination claims add injury to feelings and interest.
Can I change my schedule of loss later?
Yes. The document is expected to be updated as circumstances change, such as starting a new job or the hearing date moving. Serving an updated version in good time before the hearing is normal practice.
What happens if I get the figures wrong?
Errors are corrected rather than fatal, but inflated or unsupported figures damage your credibility on the rest of the claim. Tribunals routinely reduce future loss periods and reject gross-pay calculations for lost earnings.
Do I have to prove I looked for another job?
Tribunals expect claimants to take reasonable steps to find comparable work, and future loss is assessed on that basis. Keeping a record of applications, interviews and outcomes from the start supports the figures in your schedule.
Is my tribunal award taxable?
The first £30,000 of compensation connected with termination is generally tax free, and the balance is taxable. Tribunals may gross up an award so the claimant receives the intended sum after tax. Benefits received during the loss period may be recouped.
Sources
- "Making a claim to an employment tribunal", Acas — https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-tribunals
- "Make a claim to an employment tribunal", Gov.uk — https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunals
- Employment Rights Act 1996, sections 118 to 127A — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/X
- The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/310/schedule/made
- Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, sections 401 to 406 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/1/part/6/chapter/3
- "Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures", Acas — https://www.acas.org.uk/acas-code-of-practice-on-disciplinary-and-grievance-procedures
- Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, section 207A — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/52/section/207A
- "Employment Rights Act 2025", Acas, 2026 — https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025