Protective award queries
Reggie01
Posts: 31 Forumite
Hi all,
The company I was working for went into administration early December 2018. There were more than 20 people immediately made redundant without notice from the same office.
I am seeking a protective award to try and recoup some money I have lost. I already have the RP monies from the national insurance fund, but I am still out of pocket.
I have already contacted ACAS and obtained my early conciliation certificate. I submitted my tribunal claim online on 23rd January...
I have a few queries;
1) I have been advised by an ex colleague that I should have put "The Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy" as a second defendant, in addition to the company I worked for.
Please can someone confirm whether or not this advice is correct? If it is correct can I just phone the Employment Tribunal Customer Contact Centre and get them to add the Secretary of State?
2) I have an email from the administrators advising that;
"The Joint Administrators consent to the claim proceeding with the Employment Tribunal but please note the following:
The giving of consent is not an admission that any contracts of employment were adopted by the Joint Administrators; and
That any successful award made by the Employment Tribunal will rank as an unsecured claim against the Company."
I haven't been asked by the tribunal to provide consent yet, but I am advised the tribunal puts a stay on the case until consent is provided.
Should I pre-empt the tribunal and issue this email to the tribunal now?
3) I put 3 other colleagues on my form, where it asked do you know if other employees are making the same claim. The other 3 ex employees are dragging their feet and are yet to make a tribunal claim. Will this delay my claim? If so should I ask for this to be amended, and those peoples names to be removed? Again, do I just phone The Employment Tribunal Customer Contact Centre?
4) When can I expect to have the tribunal, and assuming I am successful how do I obtain the monies? (I am aware it is capped at 8 weeks minus x £508, minus pay for days worked and already paid by NI fund).
Sorry for all the questions, but the guidance I have been able to find on the Internet is relatively poor. Ideally there could do with a guide being created for people unfamiliar with the process on MSE... if there is anything else you think is important to know please advise.
Many thanks in advance for any advice given.
The company I was working for went into administration early December 2018. There were more than 20 people immediately made redundant without notice from the same office.
I am seeking a protective award to try and recoup some money I have lost. I already have the RP monies from the national insurance fund, but I am still out of pocket.
I have already contacted ACAS and obtained my early conciliation certificate. I submitted my tribunal claim online on 23rd January...
I have a few queries;
1) I have been advised by an ex colleague that I should have put "The Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy" as a second defendant, in addition to the company I worked for.
Please can someone confirm whether or not this advice is correct? If it is correct can I just phone the Employment Tribunal Customer Contact Centre and get them to add the Secretary of State?
2) I have an email from the administrators advising that;
"The Joint Administrators consent to the claim proceeding with the Employment Tribunal but please note the following:
The giving of consent is not an admission that any contracts of employment were adopted by the Joint Administrators; and
That any successful award made by the Employment Tribunal will rank as an unsecured claim against the Company."
I haven't been asked by the tribunal to provide consent yet, but I am advised the tribunal puts a stay on the case until consent is provided.
Should I pre-empt the tribunal and issue this email to the tribunal now?
3) I put 3 other colleagues on my form, where it asked do you know if other employees are making the same claim. The other 3 ex employees are dragging their feet and are yet to make a tribunal claim. Will this delay my claim? If so should I ask for this to be amended, and those peoples names to be removed? Again, do I just phone The Employment Tribunal Customer Contact Centre?
4) When can I expect to have the tribunal, and assuming I am successful how do I obtain the monies? (I am aware it is capped at 8 weeks minus x £508, minus pay for days worked and already paid by NI fund).
Sorry for all the questions, but the guidance I have been able to find on the Internet is relatively poor. Ideally there could do with a guide being created for people unfamiliar with the process on MSE... if there is anything else you think is important to know please advise.
Many thanks in advance for any advice given.
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Comments
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So nobody replied, but I found some answers out through long conversations with ACAS (spoke to many different people), then also the general Employment tribunal number and then the local tribunal office where my tribunal will be heard, and also the gov website.
SO I thought I would respond to my own post...hopefully this helps with some other people as my experience with ACAS on this has been inconsistent / below expectations.
1) Yes you have to add "The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and your former employer" (the respondents)
Seems I cannot post links, but go to the gov UK website and the text after uk should be
your-rights-if-your-employer-is-insolvent/your-rights (scroll down to Compensation because you were dismissed unfairly).
2) ACAS actually told me that "it could not do any harm", but when I spoke to the local Tribunal office I was advised not to send this in unless asked to.
3) So there is space to add this to the initial form, but as I had already submitted I had to phone and then email the local tribunal office and ask them to add the information.They emailed me back a few days ago confirming they have made the requested amendments.
4) Looks like the tribunal will be in July 2019. Wish me luck!
I would be happy to give a bit of a guide on this if anyone is interested. I was disappointed that MSE did not have a guide on the site, and only seem to have snippets on the forum, and also that the administrators and a lot of ACAS staff do not seem to either know, or wish to divulge information about the protective award (some ACAS staff claim to not even know what it is and when I did register for conciliation process and advised ACAS my intentions, they didn't even bother to tell me about adding the Secretary of State).
Given some of the recent high profile administrations of businesses, the number of people who are impacted, and the financial impact it can have, and the potential pay out if you are successful with your award... I feel it is particualarly important for MSE / Martin to let people know about the protective award and a "dummies guide" as there does not seem to be a guide online as to how to complete the process from start to finish (would be happy to hear if I am wrong).0 -
Union members will automatically be put forward for the protective award which saves a huge amount of time. Well done for doing this yourself.
As only one employee needs to attend the tribunal, others tend to think they will also receive the award which isn't correct.Saving money right, left and centre0 -
I went through the same process in Scotland. I was the only person that went to ET and won.
Well tbh you are guaranteed to win as the Administrator is in effect breaking employment law as that is their best course of immediate action in trying to prop up a failing company.
They certainly do not attempt to defend.
I requested the "protective award decision" be extended to all of my fellow workers and it was.
The 8 week cap basically means most people below 8 years of service will get a little more.
I had 5 years service and was under 40 so came out with a an extra 3 weeks minus JSA.
It was a massive suprise to all the other employees (We were all taken on eventually by a company that bought the old company) who were understandably happy.0 -
Hi All,
I was glad to find these posts as the company I work for went into administration on Monday and we have all been made redundant without notice. Some of the workforce are union members and their claim will be handled by the union but a number of us are non union members so I am interested in finding out how to make a claim for us all.
We have been approached by two solicitors so far who want to submit a claim for us but with a 30% no win no fee, I am reluctant, especially if we can make a claim ourselves.
The solicitors are making out it is a complicated process and we will need representation but am I correct in saying that you have done this yourselves?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Debs0 -
The union when it wins will get the award for all it's employees.
As I said I only represented myself but when I mentioned this fact the judge I dealt with ensured the award was made to all eligible employees.
You do not need any help as it will be a cut and dried award.
The administrator has no defence to the claim if they have not consulted.0 -
My company went into administration a few weeks ago with no notice and a few of us are trying to make a claim. The administrators are defending the claim, saying that people are not eligible as we were at multiple sites. Can they do this??? (I think it may come down to the fact that we all put the company down on the claim form and not the secretary of state, but how do we rectify that now? Any advice would be appreciated...0
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My company went into administration a few weeks ago with no notice and a few of us are trying to make a claim. The administrators are defending the claim, saying that people are not eligible as we were at multiple sites. Can they do this??? (I think it may come down to the fact that we all put the company down on the claim form and not the secretary of state, but how do we rectify that now? Any advice would be appreciated...
They can defend all they like. If the company went into administration and the administrator made over 20 redundant without notice it will be cut and dried.0 -
Hi
Just wondering how you got on at the tribunal hearing and whether it's worth pursuing? I was one of 90 odd employees made redundant with no notice. I put in an ET1 in time and had the confirmation email from the court saying my claim had been received and would be sent to the respondent.
A month later I received correspondence from the tribunal office letting me know that, as the respondent company is in administration, legal proceedings cannot be instituted or continued without either the Administrators consent or permission of the court. I emailed the Administrators asking for their consent to continue with the legal proceedings as per my Employment Tribunal claim.
The Administrators responded by saying that they haven't received anything regarding my claim and want me to forward full details to fully consider my request for their consent.
Any help is really appreciated as I thought they would have received my claim, additionally I put in a proof of debt form to them (as I only received statutory notice not contractual) which also let them know I had made a Protective Award claim via an ET1 and I have correspondence from the Tribunal office copying them in on the letter I recently received.
Thanks in advance0 -
Hi
Did your hearing happen in July as expected? If so I hope you got the result you were looking for.
I read with interest your post, I’m in a similar position and have also found that the service and advice provided by ACAS is hit and miss at best.
The internet is devoid of any information on the matter too.
I’m pursuing a case myself with the ET and would greatly appreciate the benefit if your experience any advice you can give.
Thanks0 -
Has anyone had to apply for permission through the courts for this? I've tried the administrator a number of times many different ways and not had a response.
Can't find any information at all online about how to go through the courts to get permission to go to ET0
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