‘Injury to feelings’ is a specific type of compensation that an Employment Tribunal can award in certain circumstances. It’s designed to compensate for emotional distress in discrimination and whistleblowing cases.
An award for injury to feelings is designed to compensate the claimant for worry, stress, anger or any other hurt feelings that resulted from the event(s) outlined in their claim.
Injury to feelings compensation can be awarded for successful claims in the following scenarios:
In each of the following cases, the claimant was awarded injury to feelings compensation by the judge:
In this case, the claimant was subjected to age-related and sexual harassment through a number of comments and actions over a period of time. This included her boss telling her she was “thick and old” for not being able to use icloud.
The Tribunal awarded this claimant £8,000, plus interest, for injury to feelings.
The claimant in this case had a sensitivity to light that amounted to a disability. The Tribunal found that her employer failed to make reasonable adjustments to her work surroundings. This affected the claimant’s work and personal life, compromising her physical and mental wellbeing.
The Tribunal awarded this claimant £10,000, plus interest, for injury to feelings.
In this case, the claimant was subjected to victimisation when he raised a grievance about race discrimination. The claimant’s employer failed to respond to him and stopped his pay. At Employment Tribunal, his claims of victimisation and race discrimination succeeded in part.
The Tribunal awarded this claimant £3,000 for injury to feelings.
An injury to feelings award is designed to compensate the employee rather than to punish the employer. The key focus of the judge’s decision is always on the effect of the discrimination on the individual claimant. The judge will assess the evidence of the hurt they have suffered, along with any arguments from the employer for reducing the award.
To calculate the value of an injury to feelings award, the Tribunal uses a degree of judgment and discretion. It also takes the specific facts and circumstances of each case into account.
Injury to feelings compensation is generally awarded within one of three “Vento bands”, depending on the severity of each case. See the current Vento bands.
Vento bands provide a framework for judges to assess injury to feelings awards.
When determining how much to award a claimant for injury to feelings, the judge will assess:
The amount that the judge awards for injury to feelings will depend on the specific circumstances and impact on the claimant.
For a one-off incident, claimants might be able to expect an award of around £5,000. For anything more sustained, they might receive £15,000-£25,000 or even more, depending on the severity of the case.
If a claimant wins their claim on more than one type of discrimination, the judge will issue a single award based on overall injury to feelings.
If there are aggravating features in the case (e.g. if the employer’s behaviour has been particularly bad), the judge can increase the amount of the award.
In England and Wales, claimants receive a separate award called aggravated damages in this scenario. In Scotland, aggravating features are factored into injury to feelings compensation - there is no separate award.
If you suspect your case will qualify, you might be wondering how much compensation you could expect to receive for injury to feelings.
Our on-demand video, “How to calculate injury to feelings compensation for your discrimination case”, is designed to help.
By watching the one-hour video, you’ll gain:
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