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Vento Guidelines and Employment Tribunal Statistics Update
- Cathy Norton BSc FCIPD CMIOSH LLM
- Apr 8
- 4 min read
The President of the Employment Tribunals has issued the annual update to the Vento guidelines, setting out the bands of awards for injury to feelings, payable in cases of discrimination at work, adjusted for inflation.
The new bands are: -
lower band: £1,200 to £12,100 (less serious cases)
middle band: £12,100 to £36,400
upper band: £36,400 to £60,700 (the most serious cases)
Awards in the most exceptional cases may exceed £60,700. These updated figures apply in respect of claims presented on or after 6 April 2025.
The lower band applies to ‘less serious cases’ where the act of discrimination is a one-off or isolated occurrence. The middle band applies to serious cases that do not fall within the higher band. The higher band applies to the most serious cases, for example, where there has been a lengthy campaign of discrimination and/or harassment.
Employment Tribunals have great flexibility to fix the compensation at what is fair and just in each case. They will consider all the evidence, including the Claimant’s evidence about the impact of the discrimination on them, before deciding an appropriate award.
While the Tribunal will assess the award of damages for injury to feelings in an objective way, the perception and the individual reaction of the claimant will be an important factor for the court to consider. The more upsetting the conduct is to the individual, the more seriously the discrimination is likely to be viewed, and the higher the award for injury to feelings. Where a one-off act of discrimination is particularly humiliating or serious, and the victim suffers serious consequences as a result, an award in the higher bands could be justified. A Tribunal would require quite detailed evidence about the seriousness, before it would be prepared to award a high figure.
Claimants sometimes have unrealistic ideas about how much money they will be awarded. Cases that make the news are there precisely because they are so unusual. A Tribunal will take a measured and methodical approach when they assess how much to award, but it is hardly a science. There is little in the way of hard evidence about what is normal, but we believe that most awards fall into the lower category.
Employment Tribunal Statistics
The notable statistic for 2023/2024, published last October, was that the total number of claims increased from 86,000 to 97,000, an increase of nearly 13%. It is predicted that the number of claims will continue to increase due to the new and substantial rights arising out of the Employment Rights Bill. This will be aided also by the fact that the Government is bringing in changes so that Claimants will, in future, have six rather than that three months to lodge their complains. We believe that arising from this extension there will be a substantial increase in Subject Access Requests, SARs. Why? Employers must action a SAR within a maximum 3-month timeframe, now allowing Claimant solicitors time to establish whether there is sufficient evidence and what the legal heads of claim could be.
The table below shows the maximum, median and average awards for unfair dismissal and discrimination claims for the reporting period.
Maximum, Median and Average Awards for Unfair Dismissal and Discrimination 2023/2024
| Maximum Award | Median Award | Average Award |
Unfair Dismissal | £179,124 | £6,746 | £13,729 |
Race Discrimination | £431,768 | £10,253 | £29,532 |
Sex Discrimination | £995,128 | £16,161 | £53,403 |
Disability Discrimination | £964,465 | £17,218 | £44,483 |
Religion & Belief Discrimination | £20,000 | £8,500 | £10,750 |
Age Discrimination | £261,949 | £86,349 | £102,891 |
Sexual Orientation Discrimination | £47,297 | £26,693 | £27,070 |
These awards will include compensation for loss of employment which generally makes u a large proportion of the total amount, with injury to feelings being on top.
An award for injury to feelings is meant to reflect how upset the employer made the Claimant feel, not to punish the employer for how badly they have behaved. Fair treatment is a moral and legal duty, and employers have a responsibility to investigate and respond to any issue they become aware of, as well as taking all reasonable measures to protect employees from harassment and discrimination.
The vast majority of employment disputes are actually settled without a Tribunal claim being raised, so that they do not form part of data which has led to these statistics. Of those disputes that settled, the value of many are likely to be in excess of the average and median figures.
The highest awards made in the 2023/24 reporting period are always for discrimination claims.
How to reduce Discrimination Claims
Having strong and unambiguous Equality and Dignity at Work Policies are powerful tools for preventing discrimination and harassment in the workplace. In addition to developing the right policies for their workplace, employers also need to make sure that everyone understands the policy (evidence is shown by training records) and that it operates effectively in practice. Policies and practices that amount to indirect discrimination may be justified only when the policy or practice is a proportionate way of achieving a legitimate business aim.
Actions:
Educate all your workers about discrimination - this is done through meaningful and regular training. In person training is more effective at helping to change behaviours than simple online training modules.
Encourage workers to respect each other's differences.
Respond to any evidence or complaints of inappropriate behaviour.
Deal with complaints of discrimination and harassment promptly and effectively.
In the case of sexual harassment since October 2023 under the Worker Prevention Act (Amendment of the Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, employers are now also under an obligation to also undertake a risk assess as part of its preventative duties to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment.
It is essential for employers to be proactive and prevent discrimination from occurring in the first place. Claims are difficult and expensive to defend, so best avoided.
BackupHR is willing to deliver for our clients one free Sexual Harassment briefing for Managers, as well as providing other chargeable types of Dignity at Work (Harassment and Bullying) training suitable for all other types of employees.
If this is something you would be interested in running within your organisation, please contact Jackie Bolton on 01480 677981 or drop her an email to jackie@backuphr.com for more information.
Clients are welcome to raise any concerns with our Consultant team, who would be pleased to advise you on any element of the issues arising from this newsletter.
