In cases of discrimination, employment tribunals may make an award for injury to feelings. The awards for injury to feelings are intended to compensate a claimant for the hurt or distress they have suffered as a consequence of their employer's discriminatory action against them. It can however be very difficult to attribute a financial value to a claimant's injury to feelings. To assist employment tribunals in assessing this, in 2003, the Court of Appeal set out guidance for quantifying awards for injury to feelings. This guidance set out three bands for potential awards, and it is updated annually.
The Court of Appeal set out that:
- The lower band is for "less serious cases, such as where the act of discrimination is an isolated or one-off occurrence";
- The middle band is for "serious cases, which do not merit an award in the highest band"; and
- The upper band is for "the most serious cases, such as where there has been a lengthy campaign of discriminatory harassment on the ground of sex or race".
The bands are not prescriptive. In one case it may be possible that a one-off incident might fall into the middle band, for example. In another, two or more incidents may only merit an award in the lower band.
2026/27 update
For claims brought on or after 6 April 2026 the bands are:-
- Lower band £1,300 to £12,600
- Middle band £12,600 to £37,700
- Upper band £37,700 to £62,900
Awards of over £62,900 will only be made in very exceptional cases.
