Law Centre NI has released a guide updated in April 2026 on preparing a Schedule of Loss for claims to the Employment Tribunal in Northern Ireland.

The document explains how claimants calculate financial compensation sought from employers in cases such as unfair dismissal. Tribunals in Northern Ireland operate as the Industrial Tribunal or Fair Employment Tribunal depending on the claim type.

A Schedule of Loss lists compensation heads including basic awards, calculated like statutory redundancy pay based on age at dismissal, full years of service, and gross weekly pay capped at £783 per week as of April 2026.

For example, a 45-year-old with 10 full years service and £790 weekly gross pay receives £9,396 as basic award. Minimum basic awards apply in automatically unfair dismissals, such as those linked to health and safety activities or trade union membership, set at £9,512.

Compensatory awards cover losses like immediate net earnings from dismissal to hearing date or new job, future earnings, pension contributions, job search expenses, and lost benefits. The cap stands at £123,785, with no cap in health and safety or whistleblowing cases.

Claimants must mitigate losses by seeking new work, with tribunals possibly reducing awards for failure to do so or claimant contribution to dismissal. Polkey deductions reduce awards if fair dismissal was likely despite procedural flaws.

Discrimination claims allow injury to feelings awards via Vento bands, with lower band £1,200-£11,700, middle £11,700-£35,200, upper £35,200-£62,900, and over £62,900 for serious cases, plus 8% interest.

Uplifts of 10-50% apply for procedural failures, and claimants must provide evidence like payslips or medical records. The guide notes recoupment of certain benefits from unfair dismissal awards by the Social Security Agency.