Has anyone successfully received a Protective Award paid for by the Insolvency Service?
chazzat99
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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.
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.
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"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
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 [email protected]
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.