An interim relief application moves in days, not months.

Interim relief is the fastest-moving part of employment litigation. Where an employee claims they were dismissed for a protected reason, most often whistleblowing or trade union activity, they can apply within seven days of dismissal for an order that their employment continues until the final hearing. The tribunal lists that application urgently, and if it is granted you continue paying salary and benefits for however long the claim takes to reach a hearing, with no route to recover the money even if you ultimately win.

Days to prepare, months of exposure: that is what makes these applications disproportionately expensive to handle badly. Most employers meet one for the first time with no in-house employment lawyer and a hearing already in the diary.

What has to happen in the first few days

A specialist works the application and the underlying claim in parallel:

• Check the application was made in time: within seven days of the effective date of termination
• Identify the protected reason being asserted and test whether the disclosure or activity actually qualifies
• Evidence the real reason for dismissal with contemporaneous documents, not after-the-event explanation
• Prepare the written response and witness evidence for a hearing listed within days
• Quantify the cost of a continuation order against the cost of settling before the hearing
• Keep the ET3 on track: the 28-day response deadline runs regardless of the interim application

The decision is made quickly, and largely on paper

The tribunal is not deciding the claim at this stage. It is deciding whether it is likely that, at the final hearing, the dismissal will be found to have been for the protected reason. That is a demanding test for the claimant, but it is applied fast and on limited evidence, which puts a premium on the quality of the written response and the documents behind it.

Employers tend to lose these applications for one of two reasons. Either the paper trail for the real reason for dismissal is thin, or was created after the decision, or the response argues the merits of the dismissal instead of addressing the statutory test. A specialist who has run interim relief hearings drafts to the test.

There is a commercial calculation to make at the same time. Settling before the listing can be materially cheaper than a continuation order followed by a contested final hearing, and it removes the risk of an urgent public hearing at short notice. That judgement needs someone who can value both routes within a day or two, not a fortnight.

How MatchMySolicitor helps

We are a referral service, not a law firm. You tell us about the claim once, and we match it to a firm whose practice is genuinely respondent-side employment work rather than general litigation with an employment sideline.

Every firm on the panel is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Your details go to one matched firm, never several, and the first conversation is free with no obligation to instruct. Many panel firms offer fixed-fee packages for the response and early stages, and if you hold legal expenses insurance we can match you with firms that work with your policy.

Tell us about the situation in a two-minute form. No documents needed yet.

We match you with a respondent-side specialist, same day where a deadline is urgent.

The solicitor contacts you within 24 hours for a free initial assessment and your options.

1.Tell us about the situation in a two-minute form. No documents needed yet.

2.We match you with a respondent-side specialist, same day where a deadline is urgent.

3.The solicitor contacts you within 24 hours for a free initial assessment and your options.