[Here]() a schedule of loss was served which grossly over-inflated the losses claimed. In pre-trial negotiations, the claimant and respondents narrowed their differences, but although the respondents were prepared to pay a sum which appeared to the Employment Tribunal to be overly generous, the claimant wanted more than double that sum, and thereafter the claim proceeded to a hearing at which the claimant lost. The Tribunal made a costs order against the claimant and then pursued his solicitors for wasted costs for having advanced such a misleading and inflated schedule of loss and for their client's refusal to settle for a reasonable sum.

The case confirms that the schedule of loss is an integral part of the claim and needs to be devised with care. Anyone representing a claimant must try to manage their client's expectations, which are often unrealistic and inflated. The sum being claimed must reflect the claimant's reasonable losses, and several versions of the schedule of loss might need to be designed to illustrate the effect of any adjustments that could be made for contributory fault for example. Future loss is notoriously difficult to calculate due the high degree of speculation involved, but the period needs to be justified, for example by taking into account the health and age of the claimant, their particular expertise and the state of the job market. It is as well for any representative to ask very direct questions too and check carefully all the information that has been given to them before serving a schedule of loss at the Tribunal - in the Hafiz case, 52 weeks of future loss was claimed even though the claimant had started a new job before the date of the hearing on a higher salary than before.

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