Has anyone successfully received a Protective Award paid for by the Insolvency Service?

chazzat99

Has anyone successfully received a Protective Award from the Insolvency Service fund following a tribunal judgement? How long did it take?

The company I was working for in early 2018 went into administration and we were all made redundant the same day. We made a claim with the employment tribunal on grounds that the dismissal was poorly handled and that there was no notice. In September last year, all former members of staff were awarded a Protective Award (I personally did not attend as I was not in the country). You can see the details of the ruling if you find for Tribunal Verdicts page on the Gov UK site and search for "AngloInfo" or "Elgen".

A date on 23rd October 2019 was set for the company to pay out. However, because the company was insolvent, there was no one to pay the award. As such, I understand that the award would fall to the Insolvency Service to pay and would be capped at the equivalent of 8 weeks pay (minus any money you had already received via from them in the immediate aftermath of the redundancy).

There was little information online about the process but I did find the following a pdf on the Gov UK site called "Explaning your protective award"
It mentions that the Insolvency Service "aim to pay within 12 weeks of receiving information of who is entitled to the award". This is consistent with what the lead claimant was told during / following the tribunal.
However given that 12 weeks from the initial date of payment given to the company is nearly up (23rd January would be 12 weeks exactly), I'm wondering if the Insolvency Service are just really stretching their own deadline or whether we have missed a crucial step (for example, if someone needed to get in touch with them following the company's failure to pay).

Has anyone got experience of this?
As I mentioned, I was out of the country when the tribunal was held and it's not been 100% clear to me what is happening.

Blatchford

chazzat99 wrote: »

Has anyone successfully received a Protective Award from the Insolvency Service fund following a tribunal judgement? How long did it take?

The company I was working for in early 2018 went into administration and we were all made redundant the same day. We made a claim with the employment tribunal on grounds that the dismissal was poorly handled and that there was no notice. In September last year, all former members of staff were awarded a Protective Award (I personally did not attend as I was not in the country). You can see the details of the ruling if you find for Tribunal Verdicts page on the Gov UK site and search for "AngloInfo" or "Elgen".

A date on 23rd October 2019 was set for the company to pay out. However, because the company was insolvent, there was no one to pay the award. As such, I understand that the award would fall to the Insolvency Service to pay and would be capped at the equivalent of 8 weeks pay (minus any money you had already received via from them in the immediate aftermath of the redundancy).

There was little information online about the process but I did find the following a pdf on the Gov UK site called "Explaning your protective award"
It mentions that the Insolvency Service "aim to pay within 12 weeks of receiving information of who is entitled to the award". This is consistent with what the lead claimant was told during / following the tribunal.
However given that 12 weeks from the initial date of payment given to the company is nearly up (23rd January would be 12 weeks exactly), I'm wondering if the Insolvency Service are just really stretching their own deadline or whether we have missed a crucial step (for example, if someone needed to get in touch with them following the company's failure to pay).

Has anyone got experience of this?
As I mentioned, I was out of the country when the tribunal was held and it's not been 100% clear to me what is happening.

You didn't tell them that the company hasn't paid? How are they supposed to therefore know? You do actually have to communicate with them.

chazzat99

Upon second reading on the documentation available online, I'm pretty certain no communication is needed between the awardee (of a Protective Award) and the Insolvency Service following the tribunal in order to receive payout. Here are the supporting paragraphs from the "Explaining your Protective Award" page (published August 2019) on gov.uk:

"If your former employer is insolvent, the Insolvency Service will pay the Protective Award, but the amount we can pay is capped at 8 weeks pay...

2. How do I apply for a Protective Award
If you’re included in the tribunal judgment, you do not need to take any action to claim the Protective Award. We’ll contact you if we need any information from you. We’ll write to you when we’re ready to pay you, and let you know how much money you will get."

I'll consider this to be the case and this issue as resolved. Unless anyone who has actually received an award can suggest otherwise?

Cheers,
Charlie

chazzat99

Just a final word on this and advice to anyone in the same position.
I think it is best if you do contact the Insolvency Service following the tribunal verdict if you are awarded a Protective Award and your former employer is unable to pay due to insolvency.
You can this by calling 0300 678 0015 or emailing redundancypaymentsonline@insolvency.gov.uk

After suspecting something was not right when the 12 weeks were up, I contacted them and was told by an advisor that my individual claim was not being processed, despite the fact they had a record of the group claim, because I had not contacted them separately with evidence the tribunal verdict. I subsequently had to send an email to the address I gave above, with a letter from the tribunal which detailed my award entitlement. It seems now that finally my claim is being processed.

The whole process is very convoluted. I'm not sure what the information on the gov.uk document, which basically said "you don't need to do anything", is referring to. Now that some of us claimants have started to contact the Insolvency Service, it seems they are reaching out to everyone via email.

Hope that helps anyone in the same positions as there is very little information online to be found at the time of writing.

Amicallef33

How long does it take to recieve your protective award from the insolvency service? i was awarded 90days protective award from a ET from my former employer who is in administration. I have sent all my details including a copy of the judgment to the insolvency service about 3 weeks ago and all i have back is my LN number. is anybody else in this situation?

Reggie01

Amicallef33 said:

How long does it take to recieve your protective award from the insolvency service? i was awarded 90days protective award from a ET from my former employer who is in administration. I have sent all my details including a copy of the judgment to the insolvency service about 3 weeks ago and all i have back is my LN number. is anybody else in this situation?

Yep. I'm in a similar situation though I was advised to include the original LN number in the email to them which I did. I sent a scanned copy of the judgement on 26th February (just over 2 weeks ago) and have had nothing back apart from the automatic response which said I would receive a response if needed within 5 days and 95% of payments are processed within 6 weeks. So I'm taking that as they haven't sent an email back that they don't need anything further from me and the payment should be made within 6 weeks of my email...

Amicallef33

Thanks for the reply it sounds like we are in the exact same position and timeframe. I emailed them on the wed (11th march) to see if there was any update and recived a responce yesterday (march 12th) to tell me that to expect a benefits letter in the next 10 days and just fill it in (to see if iv recived any benefits while being redundant) sign it and confirm my bank details. But they already have  this info when i filled in the online claim form

Amicallef33

chazzat99 said:

Just a final word on this and advice to anyone in the same position.
I think it is best if you do contact the Insolvency Service following the tribunal verdict if you are awarded a Protective Award and your former employer is unable to pay due to insolvency.
You can this by calling 0300 678 0015 or emailing redundancypaymentsonline@insolvency.gov.uk

After suspecting something was not right when the 12 weeks were up, I contacted them and was told by an advisor that my individual claim was not being processed, despite the fact they had a record of the group claim, because I had not contacted them separately with evidence the tribunal verdict. I subsequently had to send an email to the address I gave above, with a letter from the tribunal which detailed my award entitlement. It seems now that finally my claim is being processed.

The whole process is very convoluted. I'm not sure what the information on the gov.uk document, which basically said "you don't need to do anything", is referring to. Now that some of us claimants have started to contact the Insolvency Service, it seems they are reaching out to everyone via email.

Hope that helps anyone in the same positions as there is very little information online to be found at the time of writing.

Hiya can you tell me if you have recived your protective award from the insolvency service yet and and if so how long did it take?

Reggie01

Amicallef33 said:

Thanks for the reply it sounds like we are in the exact same position and timeframe. I emailed them on the wed (11th march) to see if there was any update and recived a responce yesterday (march 12th) to tell me that to expect a benefits letter in the next 10 days and just fill it in (to see if iv recived any benefits while being redundant) sign it and confirm my bank details. But they already have  this info when i filled in the online claim form

Did you get your letter yet? I've not received any updates yet.

Amicallef33

I havnt recived anything and its been 5 weeks. I tried phoning them and they said i have to wait at least 6 weeks before they can look in to it for me

jobland

i have just been made redundant with no notice or consultation along with 4000 other staff at different stores and head office.  we have had a solicitor say no win no fee for a protective award.  The company is under administration so all redundancy and notice of pay is being claimed for by the govt.  will the protective award claim come out of my notice pay since the govt is paying this?