Help for Mother In Law

shauniebabe

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone can help with a situation that my Mother in Law is facing. She has worked for a shop with a workforce of around 7 including a owner and her 2 sisters for 12 nearly 13 years.

Approx October last year (2008) they were given a letter on a Thursday announcing that they had a meeting on the saturday morning before work opened regarding the lease on the shop. When they went in to this meeting they were told that the company was looking at not renewing the lease on the shop and that they were looking at cutting costs by offering voluntary redundancies and if this did not work they would have to make people redundant and that they should take this as there 3 month notice.

Some people left voluntarly and the shop continued till now. However over the last 2 weeks they have noticed they are getting less and less new stock in and are instead trying to get rid of the stock from previous christmases and stock from other shops that were in the chain but have closed down or been sold. The owner has also started mentioning in conversations to the staff (informal chatting) that its a pity we wont be here next christmas or that its the last xmas.

Theyve also been told by the centre security that the lease runs out in Febuary and that its not being renewed.

Now what i was wondering is:

Does the meeting and letter from last year still count as a 3 month notice period?

If she is made redundant what can she expect to be paid (shes on minimum wage working a 40 hour week)?

If she closes up early or claims to be in administration will they still get the redundancie and notice period?

Can she claim Jobseekers straight away or does she need to wait till the redundancy money runs out?

She can work but shes not well and would struggle to get a job so would she be better going on the sick?

and if they take the business into administration but theres good money coming in (and not nesercarrily being declared) what do they do about it?

Thanks

Debt_Free_Chick

shauniebabe wrote: »

Does the meeting and letter from last year still count as a 3 month notice period?

In my view, no. The three month period has passed, she is still working and therefore it's reasonable to assume that the notice did not apply to her.

If she is made redundant what can she expect to be paid (shes on minimum wage working a 40 hour week)?

Statutory Redundancy Pay. Essentially, 1.5 week's pay (max £380 per week) for each complete year of employment, assuming all her employment has been completed since she attained age 41. That link has a link to a calculator to estimate the amount due.

Her contract may have more generous provisions, but I doubt it. If it does, the more generous provisions usually include statutory redundancy pay, so she gets the higher of the two, not both.

If she closes up early or claims to be in administration will they still get the redundancie and notice period?

Yes - but if the employer is insolvent, a claim will need to be made from the Redundancy Payments Office, a Government department that handles payments due in this situation.

Can she claim Jobseekers straight away or does she need to wait till the redundancy money runs out?

My suggestion would be to claim immediately and let the Job Centre confirm when the first payment is due. More details here.

She can work but shes not well and would struggle to get a job so would she be better going on the sick?

Depends on how "not well" she is. She may or may not qualify for Incapacity Benefit. IB assesses one's capabilities, so if she is capable of some work, she may not qualify for IB. To be honest, it's a b!tch of a benefit for claimants to handle and only intended for those who are pretty much incapable of any work of any description.

How old is MIL? If over age 60, she may be better off on Pension Credit.

and if they take the business into administration but theres good money coming in (and not nesercarrily being declared) what do they do about it?

Administration would mean the appointment of administrators to manage the business. They will either keep staff on and pay them or lay them off.

You seem to be suggesting that things are not entirely above board e.g. the reference to money coming in and not being declared .... is there more we need to know in order to give you full and accurate answers?

shauniebabe

Thanks!

By not above board i mean theyve got a pot at the side of the till that money for certain items goes into and the owner also takes money from the till whenever she feels like it.

Debt_Free_Chick

shauniebabe wrote: »

Thanks!

By not above board i mean theyve got a pot at the side of the till that money for certain items goes into and the owner also takes money from the till whenever she feels like it.

Pot at the side of the till could be petty cash. Owner taking money for the till isn't an issue, provided she's declaring it as business income - but you'll never know the answer to that and it's irrrelevant to MIL's situation.

I'd be more concerned about the business following the right redundancy/dismissal process as small employers don't usually have the knowledge and fail to get the right advice. Follow the DirectGov link from my previous post so you (both) know what the right process is, if it comes to it.

HTH

Oldernotwiser

shauniebabe wrote: »

She can work but shes not well and would struggle to get a job so would she be better going on the sick?

Incapacity Benefit has been replaced by Employment and Support Allowance which is very much based on what a person can do rather than what they cannot. If, as you say, she can work then she's very unlikely to receive it as it relates to doing any kind of work, not just the sort of thing she does normally. The fact that she may have difficulty in getting another job is irrelevant, I'm afraid.