If your employer never gave you a written statement of your job terms, that failure alone can be worth two to four weeks’ pay, on top of anything else they owe you.
“Tribunal upheld all 3 claims: unpaid wages, short notice pay, and no written statement.”
Employers who cut corners on pay, notice and paperwork can end up owing far more than they saved.
- Check whether you were given a written statement of your terms within your first two months of starting. If not, that is a breach in its own right and can add to any other claim you bring.
- Keep your own record of hours worked and pay received. Payslips are not always accurate, and your own log can be the evidence that decides a dispute.
- If your employer proposes to repay what they owe over an unreasonably long period, or stops responding altogether, get advice before agreeing to anything. A tribunal can order full and immediate payment instead.
The situation
A care workerA legal category that sits between employee and self-employed. Workers are entitled to certain rights including national minimum wage, paid holiday, and protection from unlawful deduction from wages, ... was underpaid by more than £8,400 over several months, receiving less than his agreed hourly rate for hundreds of hours worked. When his employer dismissed him, he was paid for only 15 of the 40 hours' notice he was owed. He had also never received a written statement setting out his terms of employment, something every employer must provide early in the job. When his case reached an employment tribunalAn independent court that hears disputes between employees and employers. It is free to bring a claim as a claimant, and most hearings take place in public., the employer stopped engaging altogether, proposing to repay what it owed over four years and then failing to turn up to the hearing that decided how much was due.
What the tribunal found
The tribunal upheld all three parts of his claim. It found he had been underpaid £8,408.61 gross against his correct hourly rate, and ordered the employer to pay £7,500.87 after crediting partial payments already made. It found he had been short-changed on notice pay and awarded the outstanding £286. And it found the employer had breached section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996The primary piece of legislation setting out employees rights in the UK, including the right not to be unfairly dismissed, the right to a written statement of employment particulars, and rights relati... by never issuing a written statement of particulars. That breach carries its own separate award, two to four weeks' pay, regardless of anything else the employee is owed. Here the tribunal awarded two weeks' pay, £915.20, noting the employer was small with no in-house HR support but that the breach was still significant. In total, the tribunal ordered £8,702.07.
Nsiah v LJ Sure Mercies Care Ltd, ET Case No. 6016847/2024, Employment Tribunal (Watford), decided 18 March 2026.