Remedies & loss

6 min read · Reviewed 22 June 2026

If a discrimination claim succeeds, what can a tribunal actually award — and how do you set it out so it is taken seriously? This guide explains the remedies, the Vento bands for injury to feelings, and the schedule of loss, in plain words.

What a tribunal can award

If a discrimination claim succeeds, the tribunal can do three things: make a declaration (a formal statement that your rights were breached); award compensation (the main remedy); and make a recommendation that the employer take steps to reduce the discrimination's effect. Unlike unfair dismissal, there is no upper limit on discrimination compensation.

Injury to feelings — the Vento bands

Compensation for the distress, upset and humiliation of discrimination is called injury to feelings. It is assessed in three bands, set by the case of Vento and updated every April by Presidential Guidance. For claims presented on or after 6 April 2026 the bands are: a lower band of £1,300 to £12,600 (one-off or less serious acts); a middle band of £12,600 to £37,700 (serious cases, often repeated treatment); and an upper band of £37,700 to £62,900 (the most serious, prolonged conduct). The most exceptional cases can exceed £62,900.

Financial loss

Financial loss covers what the discrimination actually cost you: lost earnings (past and future), lost benefits, and pension. Future loss must be realistic — a tribunal will not award speculative sums, and you must show you tried to limit your loss, for example by looking for other work.

Interest, aggravated damages, personal injury, and the ACAS uplift

• Interest is added under the 1996 Interest Regulations: on injury to feelings from the date of the act, and on financial loss usually from a mid-point.
• Aggravated damages may be added where the employer behaved in a high-handed, malicious, insulting or oppressive way — but it is not a routine top-up.
• Personal injury: if the discrimination caused a recognised psychiatric injury, the tribunal can compensate it. This usually needs medical evidence, and is kept separate from injury to feelings so the same harm is not counted twice.
• An uplift of up to 25% can be added where the employer unreasonably failed to follow the ACAS Code of Practice (and your own award can be reduced if you unreasonably failed to).

The schedule of loss

A schedule of loss is the document that sets out, item by item, what you are claiming and how each figure is worked out: injury to feelings (with the band and the reason for it), each head of financial loss with dates and arithmetic, interest, and the total. A clear, conservative, well-evidenced schedule is taken seriously; an inflated or vague one undermines the whole claim.