• Rights of Women - telephone helpline on sexual harassment in the workplace
  See website for opening hours

• LawWorks – national umbrella for pro bono services
  On the LawWorks website you can search for pro bono legal advice clinics around the country on different areas of law. Search “legal advice for individuals”, then “free advice clinics” – scroll down to the search function where you can enter the area of law and distance from home address.

  The website also has a useful section on “Going to Court without a Lawyer

• Advicenow
  This has a page on going to court or tribunal without a lawyer, with a link to a range of resources for litigants in person – for family court, civil court and tribunals.

• AdviceLocal search engine
  AdviceLocal have developed a map of advice services across the country assisting in social welfare law: welfare benefits, debt, housing, employment, community care, asylum & immigration. (It does not include the main national organisations, advice services that are open for only a small number of hours a week and law clinics that don't provide a service in social welfare law). The services are mostly law centres, university law clinics, housing advice services and also legal aid solicitors who do social welfare law.
  Go to the website and navigate with the map

• Equality Advisory and Support Service
  A charity which provides information about the law and advice on equality issues at work, with an advice line, however not legal advice from employment lawyers. Advice line 0808 800 0082

• Working Families
  A charity promoting work-life balance and provides telephone advice on employment matters to parents and carers.
  Helpline 0300 012 0312

• Community Links
  Advice agency based in Newham but provides advice remotely nationally on employment, housing and consumer law. They also have a face-to-face evening surgery including employment law and consumer rights run by volunteer commercial lawyers
  Tel: 020 7473 9681

• Legal Advice Centre University House, Bethnal Green
  18 Victoria Park Square E2 9PB
  104 Roman Road E2 0RN
  Tel: 020 3606 0372 / 020 8980 4205
  A free advice clinic that takes referrals from all over London including face to face appointments. They provide free legal advice for those who cannot afford to pay. They cover housing, welfare, benefits, employment and family law. They will act as McKenzie friends and accompany through court process in some cases.

For hearings in the Employment Tribunal it may be possible to obtain a pro bono barrister from one of the two organisations below, but they cannot assist all applicants:

• Advocate
  They can’t guarantee to take every case, and the you have to meet their criteria: This includes applying at least around a month before the hearing (no less than 3 weeks) and showing that you do not have the finances to pay for legal representation but also don’t qualify for legal aid

• Free Representation Unit
  Cases need to be referred by a referral agency, and they only assist people in London and the South East, or Nottingham

Only discrimination cases are in scope for legal aid in employment law, which means that every other type of employment case is not covered by legal aid. Sex discrimination cases include sexual harassment claims in the Employment Tribunal.

To find a solicitor who specialises in discrimination law:

• Gov.UK legal aid lawyers search engine
  This is a directory of all solicitors with a legal aid contract around the country – enter the town or postcode and tick “discrimination”.

• Chambers & Partners Directory
  For the most highly regarded solicitors search the Chambers and Partners Directory of top ranked firms and individuals doing a search on ‘’employment: employee and trade union” for London, or “employment” for outside London.

You will need to qualify financially for legal aid. If you have a partner you live with, their finances will also be assessed as part of yours.

Note that legal aid in employment cases only covers advice and preparation and not representation in the Employment Tribunal. Other arrangements may be available for that (see below)

Many people who need employment law advice won’t qualify financially for legal aid because they have been working.

There are various other options to fund employment law representation:

• If you have home contents insurance (which must be in place before the legal matter arose) you should check to see if this includes legal expenses insurance. Many such policies do include this. If it does, you should check if employment law is covered, it usually is. The insurance company will then fund a solicitor, though sometimes they insist on their own panel lawyers being instructed but she can ask whether she can instruct a solicitor of her own choice.

• If you are a trade union member you can ask the union lawyers to assess whether the merits of your case are strong enough, and if they are, the union lawyers will represent free of charge.

• Some law centres may represent people even if they don’t qualify for legal aid, see the law centres included in the legal aid list above, and also use the AdviceLocal search engine, which includes law centres doing employment law, with a map.

• If you can afford it, you can pay legal fees to a solicitor or barrister privately. In the Employment Tribunal each side pays their own legal costs at the end, rather than the winner paying the loser’s costs as in the courts, therefore it is not possible to fund a case on a “no win no fee” where the costs are paid by the other side if they lose. If a claim is very large, occasionally a solicitor may agree to enter into an agreement to pay legal costs out of compensation won (known as a DBA or Damages Based Agreement), but this is unusual.

• YESSLAW
  This is an affordable employment law service whose model is premised upon avoiding litigation and they will represent clients in settlement negotiations

• In some cases if you are a police employee, you may have a County Court claim for negligence against your employer where the employer knew about a difficulty and failed to safeguard the employee, for example if you suffered sexual assault or domestic abuse by another officer and the force fails to take action. A negligence claim may be possible which could potentially be done by a solicitor on a “no win no fee” agreement.

Many people cannot access legal representation for the Employment Tribunal and have to represent themselves. They may be able to get a pro bono barrister to represent at a hearing, see section 1b. above.

To find a solicitor who specialises in employment law there are various options:

• Gov.UK legal aid lawyers search engine
  This is a directory of all solicitors with a legal aid contract around the country – enter the town or postcode and tick “discrimination”.

• Use the AdviceLocal search engine and search for employment law

• Obtain a list of solicitors in different areas of law from the Law Society using “Find a Solicitor” – search by area of law and location

• For the most highly regarded solicitors in specific areas of law search the Chambers and Partners Directory of top ranked firms and individuals