ex employer owes me 1100

joesab

hello
sorry this is quite a long opening post but I am so confused! I worked for a company for just under two years. Earlier this year the directors started to indicate that redundanices may be likely so I got a new job (at JUST under two years - I started with them end of June 2016, left beginning of June 2018).
Last year it transpired that they had been underpaying past and present employees and were ordered by HMRC to pay the monies owed. They didnt pay anyone, not did they attempt to.
I recently recieved a letter from HMRC saying that the business has now gone into liquidation and HMRC would no longer be dealing with claims, I needed to contact the insolvency practitioners , whihc i did. they replied stating that the business could not pay me and to claim via the Insolvency Service.
I applied online and got an email back today stating that I am not entiteld to this money as I had not worked for the busiiness for the minimum period of two years. The form I filled in was titled claim for redundancy and unpaid wages.
Is this right? I am aware there is a two year clause for redundancy but does this apply to backpay for NMW?

a few things I would like to point out which may or may not be useful
1 - they were SHOCKING employers. One of them was going through a very messy divorce and as one of the other employees was friends of his wife, he made life absolute hell for him, giving him all the s^t jobs, knowing he couldnt leave as he found it difficult to even apply for other jobs let alone get one.
2 - they have countless times wound up the business only to start again under another name, owing suppliers thousands of pounds.
3 - earlier this year, one of the directors was getting daily visits from debt collectors and was told his vehicles would be towed away... the other director suddenly produced 15K in a carrier bag which he had stashed under his bed at home.

To make things even more frustrating, the Insolvency Service online service is not useful at all. When I first applied I had to do the verification check wirh one of their partners.. this took half a day, I supplied all the info and was STILL getting 'sorry we cannot verify your ID' . i called the IS and after being on hold for half an hour they said they were having so many problems with they were advising callers to continue without verification!
Today, I have tried replying to the email they have sent me only for it to be returned from postmaster @gsi.gov saying that the email address entered couldnt be found..

Thanks in advance

agrinnall

This page seems to suggest that the 2 year minimum only applies to redundancy, and not to unpaid wages. The next page on from that one has an email address for the Insovency Service, and the one after that explains that if your claim is rejected you can make an employment tribunal claim instead.

joesab

Thank you! Ive just copied the email address on that page, resent my query and got a confirmation reply. Wonder why that happened, its the same email address I received the email from today and repiied to earlier today.

z1a

1100 what?

joesab

£1100. Sorry, missed the pound sign off lol

sangie595

Gsi email addresses are being phased out across the whole public sector. You aren't the only one being caught up in some fun and games with the transition. It's supposed to be seamless. Of course it isn't. We've been having bounced emails and emails rejected by the servers for several weeks now and it's getting worse. Most from authorities we communicate with regularly - in other words we know we have the right address!

This appears to be affecting many government departments and some local authorities addresses. It's supposed to be wholly transitioned by the end of the year, I'm told. At which point it will either all be working correctly or totally knackered. Given the public sector ability with IT, I know which I'm betting on.

jobbingmusician

So is your advice to continue the claim for underpaid wages by post, Sangie? (Just trying to clarify for the OP)

joesab

Thanks Sangie595 = glad to hear its not just me" The whole verification process was an absolute nightmare , its enough to put anyone off trying to claim.About a year ago my dad tried to sign up for a governement gateway account to cliam his state pension online, again the verification process was a muddle.

joesab

this morning Ive contacted the Insolvency practitioner to re iterate that my claim is for monies owed, not redundancy. They looked through the form and can see that Ive ticked that I am claiming for monies owed, not redundancy so hopefully it will get sorted out

joesab

When I spoke to the insolvency practitioners agent, they said they were going through the paperwork and once they had eveything together they would see how much money there is and wages would then be paid.
This sounds to me like I am not going to get what I am owed. I know for certain the business owes HMRC at least 60k so assume they would get paid first.
I drove past the business in question today. Still trading, in fact theyve got 'order now for Xmas' posters in the window.
Who will be paying this money I am owed? If its the governmnent, then these two are taking p*** taking to a whole new level, theyve completely washed their hands of the trail of destruction they have created. Bank loans unpaid,suppliers not paid, employees sacked for no good reason, bullying, disposing of assets so they cant be used in divorce proceedings. A nasty pair of so and so's. And today, there they are going about the day whistling a happy tune as if nothing has happened

JCS1

HMRC are no longer a preferential creditor, it changed with the Enterprise Act 2002

Employees would be paid first, depending on certain criteria. Details here:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2013/jan/18/employee-rights-administrators