More than 270 staff made redundant at Flybe
Airline, Flybe, have ceased trading and administrators have confirmed that 276 redundancies have been made across the company. It entered administration on 28th January.
Support in making claims to the Insolvency Service will have been provided by the joint administrators. However, employees affected by the news may have other options, depending on the steps taken before making redundancies.
When making 20 or more redundancies at one workplace, employers are under a duty to inform and consult with employee representatives, at least 30 days before redundancies are made (45 days where there are 100 or more redundancies). If a company fails to do this or fails to do it correctly, claims can be made for compensation. Up to 90 days’ pay can be awarded to each affected employee by way of a “protective award”.
If a protective award is secured but the company concerned is insolvent, some of the award is guaranteed by the state. Up to 8 weeks’ pay, capped at £571 can be recovered from the national insurance fund, via the Insolvency Service. This means that a gross amount of up to £4,568 is potentially recoverable in the event of success.
Our employment solicitors are experts in securing protective awards and can assist on a no win no fee basis. This means legal fees aren’t payable unless the claim is successful. Legal fees are based on a % of the award recovered, and the % charged depends on the size of the litigation group. It can range between 20% and 35%, including vat, for small groups. So, by way of a simple example, if you were to recover £4,000 after deductions and fees are agreed at 20%, £800 would be payable as your legal costs and you would receive the balance of £3,200. If your claim was unsuccessful or you didn’t recover any compensation, you wouldn’t pay any legal costs.
In addition to advice about a protective award, we can also offer support and guidance on employee claims for debts owed by the insolvent company.
Morrish Solicitors are national specialists in Protective Award claims. Our employment team have pursued a number of successful claims including Thomas Cook, Bardsley Construction, Styles and Wood, City Link, Phones4u and others. A large number of other claims are currently being pursued against a variety of companies.
If you were based in England and would like more information about a claim against Flybe, please complete this questionnaire fully and correctly and in as much detail as you can. Your responses will be received by our dedicated protective award team and the information you provide will help us to assess your claim. If you are a trade union member, please tell us which union. Many thanks and we look forward to helping you.
Please note, there is no minimum length of service required to make a protective award claim. Unfortunately, we are unable to assist with claims in Northern Ireland.
For further information please read our Protective Award FAQs.
