desperately need help and advice on MCOL?

hamnan1984

Hello all,

Im new here and would really love some help please!

my partner is self employed and is owed money by a previous employer. the money is from april this year. we have been in contact many times with the boss of the company and he just keeps saying,whenever he gets the money he will pay my partner.he owes him £1680 and just last week he paid him 500 after telling us he would pay the full amount.we have been in contact and said its gone on too long,we need the money to pay mortgage etc and so we will take the matter further and he just simply replied " its your call"
so anyway,i am looking into doing a money claim online. i have called thru to them and been given sparse info and advice so im just trying to work out if this is worth our while and if its going to be a lot of hassle and cost to us? i understand you pay an initial fee that can be claimed back from the other side but dont know much more really. i have read thru the details online but theres lots of ifs and buts so really i just wanted to talk to someone who had done it before and get some advice??
would love some help and advice please!!!
hannah

lincroft1710

The cost of making a claim on MCOL is very small in comparison to the amount you are owed.

However, even if you win there's no guarantee you'll get your money immediately, if at all. If he genuinely hasn't got the money to pay you outright, you could find that you may end up with him agreeing to pay £100 (or less) a month.

Annisele

If the previous employer really was an employer (that is, your partner wasn't self-employed at the time), then you might want to consider going to an employment tribunal. However, if you do that you'll need to get a move on, as there are strict time limits.

Again assuming that the employer was genuinely an employer, it would be worth giving ACAS a call.

Is the ex-employer an individual, a partnership or a limited company? Do you know if it actually has any money?

hamnan1984

thankyou.

the previous employer is a ltd company yes,i have looked up the details on companies house and its a registered company. from what i understand the boss is struggling as he owes money to others too,but this is because of previous bad money management (taking higher payments from one client to finish off a build elsewhere) so i suppose we do believe he is having money issues but then we are now too as a result and also if he is having issues we dont want to leave it to late and he then declares himself bankrupt as then we have no chance do we?!
if i go through with the mcol it says i need to pay a £80 fee,this can be claimed from the other side i understand. then what? is this likely to cost usalot of money? if it goes to court do we then have to start paying more fees?
thanks for your replies

lincroft1710

Even if you use MCOL and win, he can still declare himself bankrupt (which he could be if he can't afford to pay you) and you become a creditor.