Injury to feelings awards in discrimination claims

Injury to feelings awards in discrimination claims

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that an injury to feelings award of £10,000 for failure to deal with a grievance was excessive. What are the three bands for such awards and what factors might a tribunal consider when making an award?

Vento bands

In a successful claim for discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, an employment tribunal has the discretion to order an additional award of compensation for injury to the claimant's feelings for instances such as where they've been humiliated, received degrading treatment or suffered distress. That award will fall into one of three "Vento" bands depending on the seriousness of the case, and the tribunal must decide which band applies and state in the band the award will fall. For claims presented to the tribunal on or after 6 April 2023, the three Vento bands are now: (1) a lower band of £1,200 to £12,100 for less serious cases, e.g. an isolated or one-off instance of discrimination, (2) a middle band of £12,100 to £36,400 for more serious cases that don't merit an award in the upper band, and (3) an upper band of £36,400 to £60,700 for the most serious cases. In the most exceptional cases, the tribunal can even award more than £60,700.

Trap: Injury to feelings awards are made in many successful discrimination claims, so don't assume they are rare. They are awarded to reflect the injury to feelings suffered, not to punish the employer.

Pregnancy/maternity discrimination

In Eddie Stobart Ltd v Graham 2025, Miss Graham (G), who was about to go on maternity leave, was selected for redundancy as part of a wider business reorganisation. She considered she had a preferential right to be offered suitable alternative employment. Her employer (ES) didn't agree that the available vacancy was suitable alternative employment for her and so she submitted a grievance by email, but it was blocked by ES's firewall and so was not received. When G informed ES about her unanswered grievance, it failed to follow its grievance policy. The tribunal concluded that ES's failures were materially influenced by her absence on maternity leave. G was made redundant, brought a successful claim for pregnancy/maternity discrimination in relation to the failure to deal with her grievance and was awarded £10,000 for injury to her feelings (which was at the lower end of the middle Vento band).

Manifestly excessive award

On appeal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) overturned the award as being "manifestly excessive" and substituted an award of £2,000. G had said that she had only been "shocked and upset", there was no evidence to indicate she had suffered humiliation, and she had not experienced any adverse impact on her work, personal life or quality of life. So the failure to deal with her grievance was limited in its scope and impact.

The EAT said that the following factors may be helpful for a tribunal to consider as evidence of injury when making awards: (1) the claimant's description of their injury, (2) the duration of the consequences, e.g. are they fleeting or long lasting, (3) the effect on the claimant's past, current and future work, and (4) the effect on their personal life or quality of life.

The lower injury to feelings band is now £1,200 to £12,100, the middle band is £12,100 to £36,400 and the upper band is £36,400 to £60,700. Factors that may be considered include the claimant's description of their injury, the duration of the consequences and the effect on past, current and future work, personal life and quality of life.