77 Employees Made Redundant from Sofa Workshop
Sofa Workshop Protective Award Claim
Sofa Workshop enters administration making 77 employees redundant.
Employees made redundant from Sofa Workshop without consultation could claim up to 90 days’ pay by making a Protective Award Claim.
Employees Made Redundant From Sofa Workshop Could Claim Up To 90 Days’ Pay
Employees who have been made redundant from Sofa Workshop without consultation as a result of the firm due to be placed into administration, could claim up to 90 days’ pay by making a Protective Award Claim.
When making more than 20 redundancies at one workplace, employers are under a duty to inform and consult with employee representatives. If they fail to do this before employees are made redundant, claims can be made for compensation. Our expert employment solicitors handle Protective Award Claims on a no win, no fee basis. This means you do not need to pay any legal fees unless your claim is successful.
We are one of the leading protective award law firms in the UK and we have been recovering compensation in protective award claims for decades. With a large team of expert lawyers ready to assist and fast and efficient processes, we can offer very competitive rates.
If you are an employee who has been affected by the collapse of Sofa Workshop please contact our employment team on 033 3344 9603 or email [email protected] to discuss a potential Protective Award Claim.
Please note, there is no minimum length of service required to make a Protective Award Claim.
Redundancy and Protective Award Claims FAQ’s
What is a Protective Award?
If an employer proposes to make 20 or more employees redundant at one workplace it must inform and consult workplace representatives. Consultation must commence at least 30 days before the first redundancies, where between 20 and 99 redundancies are made, or 45 days before, where 100 or more redundancies are made. This is known as a “collective consultation”.
If the employer fails to comply with those duties, a “protective award” can be made, which is the name for the compensation payable to each redundant employee.
Protective Award compensation isn’t the same as notice pay or redundancy pay – it’s a claim for additional compensation for the lack of information and consultation.
Am I eligible to bring a Protective Award claim?
To be eligible you must have been an employee (not self-employed) and you must be 1 of 20 or more made redundant (or to be made redundant shortly) at a single workplace (or “establishment”).
What if I was field-based?
If you were field-based or worked across different sites, you might be eligible to make a claim depending on the facts of your case. It depends on the nature of your role, the number of individuals that work in the same way and how your workplace (establishment) is defined.
What if representatives were elected?
If representatives were elected for redundancy consultation or there was an existing employee forum or recognised union, the representative/s might have to pursue the Protective Award claim for you. You must therefore identify whether representatives were in place, if so, and make sure they join you in making a claim.
Do I need to have been employed for a particular length of time?
These claims don’t depend on your length of service – you might only have been employed a matter of weeks before being made redundant and it wouldn’t matter.
When must the claim be brought?
A claim must generally be made to an Employment Tribunal within 3 months (less a day) from the date you were made redundant, subject to any extension of time that might be granted for completing ACAS Early Conciliation within that period.
If your claim isn’t lodged in time, it could automatically fail. You must therefore act quickly.
If I am successful, what am I likely to recover?
The maximum award an Employment Tribunal can make is 90 days’ gross pay but this can be reduced in certain circumstances.
Where the company is insolvent, it’s likely that only a proportion of the compensation awarded by the Tribunal will actually be recovered via the government’s Insolvency Service (see below).
What if my employer is insolvent?
In cases of insolvency the government’s Insolvency Service can pay Protective Award compensation out of the National Insurance Fund but only if you have a Tribunal judgment. The amount is limited to a maximum of 8 weeks’ gross pay (currently capped at £544 per week if made redundant on or after 6 April 2021 and due to rise on 6 April 2022), less amounts already paid to you from the fund for unpaid wages. Deductions will also be made for national insurance contributions and social security benefits received shortly after your redundancy.
If my employer is insolvent, what do I do about other payments I’m owed?
The government’s Insolvency Service can pay compensation out of the National Insurance Fund for:
- Statutory redundancy pay
- Notice pay (capped)
- Holiday pay (capped and limited to 6 weeks)
- Arrears of pay (capped and limited to 8 weeks)
The insolvency practitioners will provide confirmation of how to make these claims, which can be made online via an RP1 form. An RP2 form is issued later for notice pay (which takes into account what you might have earned from other employment during the notice period you should have had).
Other payments you are owed fall to be dealt with in the administration/liquidation process and there is an order of priority for payments to those owed money, ranging from holders of fixed charges to preferential debts to unsecured debts. Sometimes, dividend payments are made months or even years after the insolvency for monies owed that can’t be recovered via the insolvency service. We offer guidance and support in relation to these issues, however, most can be dealt with by liaising directly with the insolvency practitioner.
Why use a solicitor?
These claims are complex and not widely known or properly understood. There are also a number of procedural and technical pitfalls that could lead to your claim being rejected. If the claim is defended (for example because of “special circumstances”) or you can’t secure permission to proceed, you could lose altogether. The process of securing compensation can also be time consuming, often taking up to 18 months or more. We can handle the whole Tribunal and/or Court process for you from start to finish, making sure you have the best chance of winning your case.
We always recommend seeking legal advice and representation when pursuing these claims.
What about fees?
Legal fees and expenses are only payable at the end of the case, from the compensation you recover. Once we know how many people are interested in pursuing the case, we will confirm the % fee and expenses to be deducted from each person’s compensation. Each person contributes to the overall costs. However, the more people we have in the litigation group, the lower the % we charge and the lower each person’s contribution to costs will be. If you lose, you don’t pay anything.
What if I am a member of a Trade Union or part of a bargaining unit?
If you are a trade union member you must contact your union and seek their support in pursuing a claim. Trade union membership is by far the best way of funding these types of claim, as legal assistance is usually a benefit of membership and you won’t therefore have any fees to pay.
How can Morrish Solicitors help me?
Our experienced employment solicitors are national experts in Protective Award claims. In the past, we have represented:
- Over 1,500 former Thomas Cook employees. We achieved the maximum Protective Award of 90 days’ pay for many of their Head Office workers in London, Manchester and Peterborough (BBC News, TSSA) ·
- 260 former CityLink employees, who were each awarded 90 days’ pay (BBC News).
- We’ve also had success in other large Protective Award claims such as Bardsley Construction, Styles and Wood, Phones4u (Yorkshirelegalnews), Sash Uk Ltd, Turners Fine Foods, Howard Hunt (City) Ltd, 3AAA, Paperlinx, Austin Reed, Maplin, Poundworld and others.
It is always beneficial to have a specialist employment solicitor on your side when making a Protective Award claim. These types of claims are complex and not widely understood, making the chances of a positive outcome much higher when you have an experienced solicitor on your side.
There are several procedural and technical pitfalls that could lead to your claim being rejected. If the claim is defended (for example because of “special circumstances”) or you cannot secure permission to proceed, you could lose altogether.
The process of securing compensation can also be time consuming, often taking up to 18 months or more. We can handle the whole Tribunal and/or Court process for you from start to finish, making sure you have the best chance of winning your case.
If you would like to discuss a protective award claim, please contact us on 033 3344 9603 or simply email [email protected] with your request.
