Redundancy advice needed

pirates51

I need some advice on the situation i am about to find myself in. The company i work for is currently going bust. There has been rumours for quite a while that the company was struggling, but after we came back from the easter holiday we were told that our bosses had to find a considerable amount of money to keep the company. But we are still not quite sure about what is going to happen to our jobs.

The company has not been run properly for some time, but now it seems that time has run out, as my boss and his wife are now bankrupt.
Last december the company was apparently changed to a limited company, but we were never actually informed about this and the company still uses all the same letterheads, invoices and vans etc. as it did before.
Now the receivers are expected to come in at any time and shut us down. We are being told that someone may put money into the company and pay the money that is owed, or buy the company back of the receivers and start up again under a new name, but this is by no means guarenteed to happen. Like i said before none of us workers know the whole story and we are hearing differant things every day. We have been told that this could take a week or two, so we will be out of work for a short while. We are not being told where we stand at all.
Are we officially being made redundant if the firm is starting under a new name, especially if we are unable to work for a short period. I have worked for the same company for over 12 years now, not always treated that great but it's a job none the less.

MatyMoo

I *think* if the company goes into liquidation statutory redundancy pay is paid from the government pot if there are insufficient funds within the business to pay you. It is also usual for the liquidator to make most staff redundant fairly quickly but they tend to keep on a couple of key people to tie up loose ends - unless there are planning on trying to sell as a going concern, in which case they cut headcount to the bone and try to keep things ticking over.

If the business gets bought from the liquidation (usually for a pittance) the new owner is under no obligation to keep the staff on but may re-employ under new terms & conditions. I *don't think* they have to TUPE you over.

This must be a worrying and uncertain time for you Hope this helps.