Working notice period when employer made insolvent

Eschatologist

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any information/advice for my situation.

I resigned from my old employer and I have a 3 month notice period. I handed my notice in on the 25th of Oct, my old employer went into administration on the 8th of Nov. Due to the fact that I was working my notice period the administrator issued the following information:

"If you had resigned and were working your notice you will not be considered to be redundant but you will not be required to work the remainder of your notice period.

You will be paid on your usual November pay day for the work done up to and including today. 

Your P45 will be sent to you within the usual Company timescales after the November payroll has been run.

Due to the financial circumstances of the Company it can’t pay amounts that may be due as a result of your redundancy, and so there is a claims process which is administered by the Redundancy Payments Service, a Government department within the Insolvency Service."

From the FAQ they sent:

"As you had given notice of your intention to resign and were working your notice, you will not be treated as redundant.
However, due to the Company’s financial circumstances it is unable to pay you for the remainder of your notice period. If
you are a UK Based employee you will be able to make a claim to the Redundancy Payments Service for payment in lieu of
holiday accrued but not taken and you’ll be paid your wages for work done up to and including the date of administration.
A letter will be sent to you in due course to let you know how to make a claim."

Unfortunately they are very bad at communication and I am still waiting for me letter from them.

Is my understanding correct that because I have 3 months notice in my contract I am owed that money and the administrator should pay it or I can claim it from the governments redundancy fund?

Thanks in advance

pjread

Sounds like bad timing unfortunately - the company are 'obligated' to pay you your notice, but I don't think this takes priority over anything else - so if they are insolvent then I'd make the claim to the administrator but not expect much if anything back, and even then not in a timely manner or via usual payroll.

I'd be having a chat with my solicitor personally.  I don't know what the RPS cover but it may well not cover outstanding PILON as that's essentially "pay for work" and I wouldn't expect them to cover general outstanding payroll obligations beyond redundancy pay itself; but I'll reiterate I'd get some professional advice here.

Marcon

Eschatologist said:

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any information/advice for my situation.

I resigned from my old employer and I have a 3 month notice period. I handed my notice in on the 25th of Oct, my old employer went into administration on the 8th of Nov. Due to the fact that I was working my notice period the administrator issued the following information:

"If you had resigned and were working your notice you will not be considered to be redundant but you will not be required to work the remainder of your notice period.

You will be paid on your usual November pay day for the work done up to and including today. 

Your P45 will be sent to you within the usual Company timescales after the November payroll has been run.

Due to the financial circumstances of the Company it can’t pay amounts that may be due as a result of your redundancy, and so there is a claims process which is administered by the Redundancy Payments Service, a Government department within the Insolvency Service."

From the FAQ they sent:

"As you had given notice of your intention to resign and were working your notice, you will not be treated as redundant.
However, due to the Company’s financial circumstances it is unable to pay you for the remainder of your notice period. If
you are a UK Based employee you will be able to make a claim to the Redundancy Payments Service for payment in lieu of
holiday accrued but not taken and you’ll be paid your wages for work done up to and including the date of administration.
A letter will be sent to you in due course to let you know how to make a claim."

Unfortunately they are very bad at communication and I am still waiting for me letter from them.

Is my understanding correct that because I have 3 months notice in my contract I am owed that money and the administrator should pay it or I can claim it from the governments redundancy fund?

Thanks in advance

Certainly confusing!

See https://www.gov.uk/your-rights-if-your-employer-is-insolvent

If the employer only went into administration on 8 November, then I think you are being overly optimistic about how quickly to expect the promised letter. I certainly wouldn't expect this to be until after the November payroll run at the earliest.

tightauldgit

I believe that you will be able to claim for the money owed by your employer from the government scheme but it's capped at 8 weeks and a maximum of £571 a week.

Forwandert

tightauldgit said:

I believe that you will be able to claim for the money owed by your employer from the government scheme but it's capped at 8 weeks and a maximum of £571 a week.

Yes it's capped, If you work elsewere during the notice period that is deducted and if you don't work and claim benefits that is also deducted.

If you don't work and don't claim benefits they still deduct what you would be entitled too if you had claimed.

The payment is after the notice period had ended. After the intial claim is completed on Gov site they contact you after the notice period to ask about any wages/benefits you earned during the period and then you're paid once it's all calculated and deductions made.

I was made redundant this year and it turned a little chaotic as they made us redundant at the end of April and closed the doors (same day no notice, but was aware it was going to happen just they didnt confirm date until the last day, so we could claim the whole notice period) but the appointment of Administrators wasn't till middle of June, so everything dragged out till way after my 8 weeks notice period.

penners324

Contact the new employer to see if you can start now?