The President of the Employment Tribunals (England and Wales) and the President of the Employment Tribunals (Scotland) have issued updated joint Presidential Guidance in relation to the so-called “Vento bands” for compensation for injury to feelings and psychiatric injury in discrimination claims brought under the Equality Act 2010.
The Vento bands are being uprated to take account of inflation and, for claims presented to employment tribunals in England or Wales on or after 6 April 2018, are:
• a lower band of £900 to £8,600 (less serious cases)
• a middle band of £8,600 to £25,700 (those cases that do not merit an award in the upper band)
• an upper band of £25,700 to £42,900 (the most serious cases), with the most exceptional cases capable of exceeding £42,900.
The employment tribunal has a discretion as to which band applies and where in the band the appropriate award should fall.
For claims presented in Scotland, it remains the case that the employment tribunal also has the discretion to conclude, having invited submissions from the parties, that the “Simmons v Castle” 10% uplift is not to be applied as a matter of Scots law (and the uprated Vento bands adjusted accordingly). If this is the case, the tribunal will be required to show its reasoning for reaching that conclusion in its judgment.
