Chasing money after leaving job

Harrycat27 · 19 November 2023 at 5:00PM

Hello all, happy Sunday - apologies for the potentially long post but I would really value any advice or insight. I wasn't sure which forum to put this in, I hope this is the right place.

So a long story short, but back at the end of September by boyfriend's company failed to pay their entire office (300 odd people). They were told there had been an error and they'd get paid in another week, well that snowballed and just kept getting kicked further and further back with no pay. The business hadn't gone under, they're still trading now.

My boyfriend didn't like the culture there anyway and had been thinking to look for a new job, so he took this as a sign and found a job elsewhere, leaving the company 3 weeks into October. He was then obviously owed not only all of his pay from September, but also 3 weeks of October. They told him he'd have it within 48 hours of leaving the company: he didn't get it. They sent him a payslip for the amount marked for immediate release, but nothing turned up.

After consulting with the CAB, we wrote them a formal letter of grievance a few weeks ago, and asked for the matter to be settled. They came back with a letter on Thursday 9th November saying that they had now issued the payment for the full amount, and that this would be their final correspondence with us on the matter.

Well, here we are on the 19th November, and no payment has arrived in his bank account.

We are both at our wits end about it, it's just felt neverending and it's starting to feel like we'll never see the money. I have had to loan him money from my savings so he can pay his rent etc these last couple of months, so I'm also as keen as he is to get the money returned.

I was just wondering if anyone knew any reason why it should be taking so long for the money to reach him - could they really have issued payment on the 9th and it still not have reached him by now?

Or if anyone has any thoughts or advice on what we should do now - the CAB said that if the grievance letter didn't work we should go through ACAS? It just feels like making the process even longer, I am finding it so maddening that a company is withholding someone's hard earned money like this, I'm incensed by it.

Thank you so much for any advice.

Hoenir · 19 November 2023 at 5:23PM

Did your boyfriend give the employer the required notice period as specified in his contract?

Was no error with the payment of everyone's salaries in September. Would have been as a result of a serious cashflow issue for the company. Have the employees that remained been paid since?

Marcon · 19 November 2023 at 5:29PM

Hoenir said:

Did your boyfriend give the employer the required notice period as specified in his contract?

Doesn't matter - the company has already confirmed they'd be paying him for the 3 weeks of October.

OP - try https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money A 'letter before action', citing the many broken promises (which will also constitute the proof your bf needs for his claim to succeed) and setting out a clear deadline for payment, is likely to be the quickest and most efficient way to proceed.

Harrycat27 · 19 November 2023 at 6:18PM

Hoenir said:

Did your boyfriend give the employer the required notice period as specified in his contract?

Was no error with the payment of everyone's salaries in September. Would have been as a result of a serious cashflow issue for the company. Have the employees that remained been paid since?

Thank you - he did indeed, worked what was required of him and left. We're not sure about the employees still there, the last I heard it was a mixed bag, some had been paid and others hadn't. I did think there must be something going on that they aren't saying!

Harrycat27 · 19 November 2023 at 6:21PM

Marcon said:

Hoenir said:

Did your boyfriend give the employer the required notice period as specified in his contract?

Doesn't matter - the company has already confirmed they'd be paying him for the 3 weeks of October.

OP - try https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money A 'letter before action', citing the many broken promises (which will also constitute the proof your bf needs for his claim to succeed) and setting out a clear deadline for payment, is likely to be the quickest and most efficient way to proceed.

Thank you - I'll look into this. It's such a maddening situation, I have never heard of anything like it! I do hope it can have a swift resolution, needless to say we'll be pursuing it until he has the funds in his account, even if it takes years!