Part of the compensation that can be awarded by employment tribunals for unlawful discrimination (such as race discrimination and/or sex discrimination) are awards for 'injury to feelings'. This aspect of compensation does not take into account financial losses for the discrimination but compensates for the hurt and upset that the individual has suffered. Tribunals have a discretion as to what to award and will take into account various matters including the individual’s personal characteristics; any relevant medical condition or particular vulnerability; the actual impact of the discriminatory act or acts on the individual and the extent to which the employer has sought to make amends.
In 2002 in a case called Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police [2003] IRLR 102 the Court of Appeal set out guidelines for how much compensation should be awarded in respect of injury to feeling. The court roughly categorised illegal discrimination into three bands - lower, middle and top and set out what it thought the award should be in each case. A recent case has now reviewed these guideline amounts and increased them. That case is referred to as 'Da’Bell v National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children 2009'.
The bands and updated guideline amounts are as follows:
Lower band (for the least serious cases, e.g. a one-off or isolated incident of discrimination) - up to £6,000 (formerly £5,000)
Middle band (which is used for serious cases that do not merit an award in the highest band) - £6,000 to £18,000 (formerly £15,000)
Top band (for the most serious cases, such as where there has been a lengthy campaign of discriminatory harassment. The guidelines suggest that only in the most exceptional case should an award of compensation for injury to feelings exceed £30,000) - £18,000 to £30,000 (formerly £25,000).
The new bands can be used immediately in schedules of loss in discrimination cases. In practice most discrimination cases where awards are made result in awards being towards the lower end.