Redundancy/wages not being paid

FW1000

I have recently been made redundant as the company I worked for is ceasing trading. My employer has advised me to claim redundancy pay, outstanding wages, holiday pay, and pay in lieu of notice from the goverment redundancy payments office.

A liquidator/receiver hasn't been appointed as there are no assets to liquidate, so they are just ceasing trading. We have been told that as the company isn't 'officially insolvent' (just ceasing trading isn't classed as official insolvent), we can only claim redundancy pay, and the redundancy payments office won't pay outstanding wages, holiday pay etc.

Can a company just cease trading if they owe employees money? Or, do they have to become fomally insolvent? If it did become formally insolvent we could claim most of what we were owed. Is there any way to force the company to appoint a liquidator/receiver?

FW1000

Has anyone got any advice?

Astaroth

It sounds like the company has simply ceased trading rather than going into liquidation.

You have up to 3 months to contest the winding up of the company on the grounds of unstatisfied debts. Once this has been done you can go to court to get your money back... if the company says it cannot afford the debts it has the courts can force the company into liquidation and a receiver will be appointed to handle the assests and division of monies if there is any

Companies House website should have more information about this

A_Nice_Englishman

If the company can't / won't pay you it may not have paid HMRC either. Make sure you keep all your pay slips showing tax and NI deducted or they may chase YOU for it. A former colleague was in this situation and was extremely glad he kept his pay slips.

KayEdwards

I was in this position when a company folded following the econmonic crash after the sept 11th terrorist attacks.

It took about a year but eventually I got my last months pay from a government agency, based in Watford and was something to do with your NI contributions. Its called the Redundancy Payments Office.

Found a link with instructions on how to claim... and the claim form...

http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file11512.pdf#search=%22redundant%20national%20insurance%22

Good luck

Marsh_Samphire

I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you, the exact same thing happened to me in 1999. One morning I was just told to leave and claim what they owed me from the government. Go to CAB or find a union/workers advice centre who should be able to advise you about taking the company to employment tribunal. I and my colleagues did this, the company owner didn't show up and the tribunal awarded us unpaid holiday pay, pay in lieu of notice, redundancy pay etc. The ruling meant the government redundancy payments office paid out with no quibbles, but it took some time. Make sure you sign on at once so you get your NI credits. The jobcentre wanted to contact my former employer by letter to confirm the situation before they would pay JSA but I explained that they had left the office premises and cleared all the equipment out so there would be no response. I was able to give them the company accountant's contact details and they confirmed it with her (she hadn't been paid either). Also you can phone your local tax office and ask them to check if your tax and NI has been paid by the company. Ours hadn't been paid but it got sorted out because I had my payslips showing the deductions.