What is a Protective Award and am I entitled to one?
A protective award is an award of compensation made to employees in two scenarios:
- Where 20 or more employees are made redundant at a single workplace and the employer fails to properly inform and engage in consultation about those redundancies; and
- Where employees are transferred from one company to another and the employer fails to properly inform and engage in consultation about that transfer.
In both cases, the legal duty on employers is to consult with employee representatives before the redundancies are made or the transfer occurs.
Where employers have breached this duty, a claim can be brought in the employment tribunals.
How much is a protective award?
The amount of protective award (payable to each affected employee) can be up to 90 days’ pay in cases of redundancy or in cases involving transfers of employment.
Am I eligible to make a protective award claim?
There is no minimum length of service required to bring a Protective Award claim. However, your claim must be commenced within 3 months (less 1 day) from:
- The date of the redundancy dismissal/s to which the complaint relates (in collective redundancy situations); and
- The date of the TUPE transfer (in TUPE transfer situations).
To bring a protective award claim an employee must first enter into early conciliation through ACAS. You must enter into early conciliation before lodging your claim at the Employment Tribunal and as long as it is done correctly, this has the effect of extending the 3 months (less 1 day) time limit. However, the length of the extension varies, depending when early conciliation is entered into and how long it lasts.
Therefore, it is always wise to seek legal advice well in advance of the initial 3-month (less 1 day) time limit.
What if my employer is insolvent?
If an employee is made redundant because the employer becomes insolvent the government’s insolvency service may be obliged to pay the protective award. However, they will only pay up to a maximum of 8 weeks’ pay, capped at £544* per week from April 2021.
Our friendly and professional employment solicitors are experts in these types of claims. They pursue hundreds of claims each year and have recovered millions of pounds in compensation for those affected. Over the years, we have successfully brought group protective award claims against many companies, including household names such as:
Poundworld – We successfully represented over 200 employees
Thomas Cook – Up to 1,500 former employees claimed awards as much as £4,200 from the Insolvency Service.
Brass Agency – We successfully secured maximum amount of compensation for former employees of Brass Agency in Leeds Employment Tribunal.
Phones4U – Successfully secured protective award claims for over 100 former Phones 4U employees who were made redundant without consultation when the company went into administration.
City Link – Over 250 City Link employees were awarded 90 days’ pay after they were made redundant without consultation.
M&Co – We successfully represented 48 employees who received the maximum amount of compensation, and are currently representing more than 150 individuals in an ongoing case
As specialists in protective award claims, we offer a free initial assessment to evaluate your potential claim. If you have a viable claim, we could act under a “damages-based agreement”, which means you only pay legal costs at the end of the case, from compensation recovered. If your case is unsuccessful, you pay nothing.
If you’d like to discuss a protective award claim and employment rights, please call our specialist employment solicitors on 033 3344 9603 or simply email [email protected] with your request.
To stay up to date with the latest law-related news, cases studies and updates to our services please sign up to our monthly newsletter.
