Company failing 30 January 2013 at 9:59AM in Redundancy & redundancy planning 6 replies 887 views

penny6540

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, sorry if it's not!

Basically me and my partner both work for the same company, and I've recently found out (I'm not supposed to know) that the company is in trouble and is VERY likely to go under.

I just want to know what will happen? We have rent, bills, and a loan to pay, and while I know we will both have to find new jobs immediately, want to know what would happen in the mean time when we have absolutely no income at all?

zzzLazyDaisy

Hi Penny, welcome to the forums.

With regard to your employment - if your jobs cease to exist owing to redundancy (eg closure of the work place, or because the employer doesn't need as many employees) you will be entitled to notice pay, accrued holiday pay, and any outstanding wages. Depending on how long you have been there, you may also be entitled to a statutory redundancy payment.

If your employer is unable to pay you the money owed, due to insolvency, you may be able to claim from the Government's National Insurance Fund

https://www.gov.uk/your-rights-if-your-employer-is-insolvent/claiming-money-owed-to-you

Hopefully someone will be along soon who can tell you about benefits entitlement on redundancy, but if not, you could post the question on the benefits board for a quicker response.

Hope this helps

Dx

spendaholiceejit

Hi Penny,
The company I used to work for were in a similar situation, and the first step was a restructure, where they made people redundant and the rest of us had to reapply for our own jobs (eg 8 people applying for 5 jobs) This was a consultation period.

So, if this happens, there is a chance that you may keep your job. It's difficult not to fret, but in the meantime keep your eyes open for another job.

Hope you find another job soon. It's a frightening prospect.

penny6540

Thanks for your replies, it is indeed a frightening prospect! Especially with both of us working in the same place.

From what I'm told I don't think the company has enough money to be paying redundancy so I'm pretty sure I'll have to claim it another way so thank you for the link!

The thing about restructuring is my company have already been in this situation once and completely re-branded using investors moneys, and I think they're out of investors now... From what I'm told if they can't salvage the company as it is then we are all gone.

I'll try posting on the benefits board as suggested thank you

getmore4less

Make sure your pay/expenses are upto date.

get looking for work ASAP, first to job market better chance of getting the jobs, so also keep it quiet so others are not after the same jobs as you.

Reggie_Rebel

penny6540 wrote: »

From what I'm told I don't think the company has enough money to be paying redundancy so I'm pretty sure I'll have to claim it another way so thank you for the link!

I was in the same situation as you, we didn't get wages for October either.

We claim through the Redundancy Payments Office and got our wages and our redundancy paid within about six weeks. You can then claim for lieu of notice (less any money earned or benefits) when you official notice period is up.

The company I worked for went into administration so it may be different for different scenarios

zzzLazyDaisy

Reggie_Rebel wrote: »

The company I worked for went into administration so it may be different for different scenarios

It is. The employer has to be insolvent. So just ceasing to trade won't be enough to trigger a payment from the Govt fund, the company would have to be in administration, or liquidation, or (in the case of a sole trader) bankrupt.

But when companies go down, they often have considerable debts, so if they don't formally go into administration, one of the creditors (often HMRC) will take the necessary steps to have them declared insolvent.