Redundancy following death of an employer

Im after some help for my mother .
My mother became a full time carer for my cousin 25 years ago following a severe motorbike accident which left him severely disabled . He was 18 when this happened and therefore he had no estate prior to this happening and lived with his parents . He was cared for at his parents home following his accident and this has been 25 years .
Unfortunately he died last month and my mother has since been left unemployed .
I’m trying to establish whether she is entitled to any redundancy pay ?

He obviously had no estate so nothing can come from that . The council paid him a careers allowance to pay her each month but they say it’s not them . Nobody seems to even know if she can claim statutory redundancy and we have called the government helpline who also say no ?
But 25 years is a long time to be left with nothing ?

We have been told it could be a frustration of contract ?

Can anybody advise ???

Comments

  • Owain_Moneysaver
    Owain_Moneysaver Posts: 11,357
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    Was your mother actually employed? Does she have payslips and year end P60 forms, and does she have National Insurance deductions? That would be important for claiming statutory redundancy.

    As there's no assets in the estate, forget about frustration of contract.
    A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.
  • lincroft1710
    lincroft1710 Posts: 17,545
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    Carer's Allowance is not a wage and therefore redundancy terms are not applicable. However the allowance will continue for approx 8 weeks after the death of the person being cared for
    If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales
  • p00hsticks
    p00hsticks Posts: 12,672
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    Carer's Allowance is not a wage and therefore redundancy terms are not applicable. However the allowance will continue for approx 8 weeks after the death of the person being cared for


    I don;t think the OP is talking about the Carers Allowance benefit (which would have been paid directly to the mother) but rather something like the Independent Living fund, which councils used to provide to the severely disabled to enable them to arrange their own care needs rather than have them provided directly by the council. I know the ILF stopped a while back but I'm not sure what replaced it.
  • lincroft1710
    lincroft1710 Posts: 17,545
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    p00hsticks wrote: »
    I don;t think the OP is talking about the Carers Allowance benefit (which would have been paid directly to the mother) but rather something like the Independent Living fund, which councils used to provide to the severely disabled to enable them to arrange their own care needs rather than have them provided directly by the council. I know the ILF stopped a while back but I'm not sure what replaced it.

    OP states council paid carer's allowance to his cousin who used this to pay his mother
    If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales
  • p00hsticks
    p00hsticks Posts: 12,672
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    OP states council paid carer's allowance to his cousin who used this to pay his mother


    The OP used the term 'a carers allowance' that the council paid to the disabled cousin.


    As I said in the previous post this doesn't sound to me like the 'Carers Allowance' benefit that would be paid by DWP directly to the carer that stops eight weeks after the death of the person being cared for.


    Rather it sounds like some sort of independent living grant (I'm not up on what the names that might be used are) paid to the disabled person by the council to enable them to fund their own carer needs rather than it being provided directly by the council.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882
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    Who employed your mother?

    Did the Cousin have a deputy?
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    The government help line are wrong. The allowance described can only be the personal support package which is provided by councils. The disabled person or their representative if they are not capable is therefore an employer. Section 136 (5) of the Employment Rights Act applies - the death of an employer is an event under the second sub section, and therefore this qualifies as a dismissal. Section 139 (4) of the same Act clearly states that such a dismissal is redundancy. If the employer cannot pay redundancy from the estate then the Redundancy Payments Service need to be contacted. At 25 years she will be entitled to the full statutory package. However, although this is clearly a recognised employment, the issue may be proving the length of service. Can she?
  • p00hsticks
    p00hsticks Posts: 12,672
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    Good to see you back, sangie
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