Get Your Settlement Agreement Reviewed by Expert London Solicitors

The really good news here is that it won’t cost you anything. That’s the basic answer which applies in 95% of cases. The reason is that the employer pays the legal fees for the advice. Either the amount they offer in the Settlement agreement is enough to cover the costs, or they pay more for legal fees as part of a negotiation. Those two scenarios cover more than 95% of situations.

Very occasionally, employers agree to pay a higher settlement but not more legal costs. The employee gets a bill for, say, £200, but a higher settlement more than covers this. Even rarer than that, we have to negotiate about something which is not financial (though still valuable), e.g. non-compete clauses, and the employee gets a small bill. That only happens a few times a year. It is entirely your decision to negotiate or not. In this case, any fee will be fixed, agreed beforehand, typically of the order of £200-250.

The basic answer is no.  However, every situation is factually and legally different. Every employee is different in their approach and expectations. What we can say is that if there is scope to negotiate a higher settlement, we will suggest it and conduct the negotiation on your behalf.

There is more scope for negotiation if the employee has their full employment rights, if they have been treated badly, if the situation is a “one off” as opposed to being part of a large redundancy exercise and if the offer is not as generous as it should be to start with.

We negotiate settlement agreements on a daily basis, so we are fully versed in all the arguments to try to increase settlement offers.

Not long.  Typically, somewhere between 2 days and 2 weeks. We always turn things around the same day and at the latest the day after, so any delay is always on the employer’s side and generally caused by something completely innocuous, e.g. the HR manager is way behind.

The simple answer is yes.  It is a requirement of the legislation that employees must received legal advice before they sign a settlement agreement. This can either be from a properly qualified, experienced insured Solicitor or a duly certified and authorised trades union official or a certified and competent advice centre worker.

In practice, it is just easier to go to a Solicitor. They satisfy the requirements of the Act, they are readily available, fast and there is no cost. It is important to choose the right solicitor, though. We have advised thousands of employees on their settlement agreements. We only deal with this area of the law and are national experts in advising on settlement agreements.

The principal reason is that the employer does not want to risk the aggravation and hassle of dealing with a claim and would rather pay some money to the employee for a quiet life.

Even if the employee does not really have any valid claims to take to a Tribunal or a Court most employers know the cost of defending a claim and the unproductive time it soaks up is potentially more than any compensation they are paying out.

A settlement agreement brings finality and certainty to the end of the employment relationship and also enables both parties to agree upon other terms e.g confidentiality references or non-compete clauses so they know where they stand after termination.

No, you don’t. It is an agreement which has to be entered into freely by both parties and, in the case of the employee, only after they have obtained the appropriate legal advice.     

If you don’t want to sign, you don’t have to; in this event, both parties just revert to their standard employment rights. This will vary from situation to situation but typically it might be a redundancy process and the employer will have to go through a selection and consultation procedure. If it’s a capability or conduct situation they will have to hold the appropriate meetings and make decisions, e.g., warnings or dismissal.

If you are in one of these types of situation 99% of the time the employment relationship is breaking down and you are better off taking some money and finding a better place to work.

All the time.  Senior employees tend to have more issues simply because their remuneration packages are more complicated. Commission, bonuses, share options, private medical cover in an employment contract often require different terms to be negotiated from the original offer. We are very familiar with negotiating on all these types of remuneration and benefits.