Redundancy: TUPE didn't happen!

InGen1989

Hi all, newbie here.

I'm looking for some advice on an issue that's been dragging on since November/December last year.

My wife was made redundant in December 2025, due to the company that she was working for becoming insolvent. She then moved over to work in the same location, for the new owners of the business. She was left unpaid for the month of November 2025 (due to the insolvency of the previous company.)

She placed a claim with the government Insolvency Service to claim the month's wages, redundancy and holiday pay that she was owed, according to the government website calculator to be nearly £5,000.

Their reply, in regard to all three claims of redundancy, holiday pay and hours worked, to be;

"We believe that prior to the insolvency date, the business, or part of the
business in which you were employed was transferred to [NEW BUSINESS NAME REDACTED], within the meaning of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of
Employment) Regulations 2006 known as TUPE. These regulations protect
employees' rights when a business, or part of a business, is transferred to a new
owner. If at the time of the transfer the original owner is not insolvent,
employees working for the old owner automatically become the responsibility of
the new owner, and have continuity of employment. The new owner takes over
full liability for debts owed under the contract of employment"

And:

"Arrears of Pay under section 184(1)(a) of the Act
You are not entitled to this payment because:
We believe that prior to the insolvency date, the business, or part of the
business in which you were employed was transferred to [NEW BUSINESS NAME REDACTED], within the meaning of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of
Employment) Regulations 2006 known as TUPE. These regulations protect
employees' rights when a business, or part of a business, is transferred to a new
owner. If at the time of the transfer the original owner is not insolvent,
employees working for the old owner automatically become the responsibility of
the new owner, and have continuity of employment. The new owner takes over
full liability for debts owed under the contract of employment.

If you think the decision is incorrect, but you did not make a mistake on your claim,
please contact the insolvency practitioner dealing with your employer's insolvency,
to make sure they have provided us with the right information."

Our problem is this: at NO TIME during the entire process was TUPE ever mentioned and as HMRC took tax and national insurance from pay that was never received, we had to petition the owner of the old business to write a letter to prove to HMRC that she had not been paid for the month of November 2025: the letter clearly states as the reason for non-payment of wages was "redundancy", with no mention of TUPE.

ACAS have been of no help whatsoever and we are now wondering what to do from this point onward and we cannot afford to bring a claim through the courts (I am mentally and physically disabled).

Thank You.

YBR

So did your wife get a new employment contract, or was it TUPE with the insolvent employer failing to pay her last wage packet?

Is she the only one in this position?

Ayr_Rage

How was tax and NI taken from pay that wasn't received?

Woodstok2000

Have you contacted the insolvency practitioner dealing with your employer's insolvency,
to make sure they have provided the govt with the right information? What did they say?

InGen1989

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82076974#Comment_82076974

There are 6 or 7 people in the same position. As far as I'm aware, there was no new contract, so if TUPE DID happen, there was no consultation and as far as I know, that makes both the old company and the new company liable.

InGen1989

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82077123#Comment_82077123

The insolvency practitioner stated that all information supplied to the Insolvency Service had been correct and then ACAS stated that there was no more that they could do and it would need to be a case of pursuing it through the courts, which we can in no way afford to do.

I believe that this matter should have been rectified by the Insolvency Service, as my wife was made redundant (as evidenced by the letter from her previous employer), but as with most government agencies, they have washed their hands of the matter, much to our annoyance.

InGen1989

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82077096#Comment_82077096

Sorry, I didn't explain that clearly; the previous employer reported that payment of wages had been made for November, which was NOT the case, and was reported to both HMRC and Universal Credit (A joint claim
as I am disabled) and Universal Credit deducted it from our monthly award for December.

My point here was that to reclaim our accurate award for December, the manager of the previous company wrote a letter to Universal Credit/HMRC stating that my wife had in fact been made redundant, with no mention of TUPE ever being carried out.

YBR

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82078320#Comment_82078320

I think when an insolvent business is taken over, there's not generally going to be a consultation.

My feeling is that this is not a redundancy situation, so perhaps forget redundancy pay, focus on getting the unpaid wages and holiday pay, or UC/HMRC records corrected.

from https://www.acas.org.uk/tupe/advice-for-employers-and-employees/tupe-transfers-if-your-employer-is-insolvent

"If employees are transferred before the old employer becomes
insolvent, the new employer must pay any money employees are owed. For
example, wages or holiday pay. Employees cannot claim compensation from the government's Redundancy Payment Service."

"If employees are transferred after the old employer becomes
insolvent, the new employer is not liable for money the old employer
owes to employees. Employees can claim some or all of the money they're owed from the
Redundancy Payment Service. This includes wages and holiday pay."

Seems like the latter from what you say, and it's based on incorrect reporting of the previous employer. I'd want to Get together with the others affected and tackle the insolvency practitioner. Perhaps the payments were set to go through but the business account was stopped before they actually happened, you could ask them to prove that the payments left the previous employer's account perhaps.