If your employer skipped redundancy consultation altogether, you could be owed up to three months’ extra pay.
“Tribunal awarded the statutory maximum 90-day protective awardCompensation an employment tribunal can order, up to 13 weeks' gross pay per employee, when an employer fails to properly inform or consult staff before a TUPE transfer..”
A failure to consult before redundancies doesn't disappear just because the business has gone under, and it can be worth months of extra pay.
- Check whether you were consulted yourself, or through properly elected staff representatives, before your redundancyA dismissal that occurs when your employer no longer needs the work you do, either because the business is closing, a workplace is closing, or the requirement for employees to carry out that kind of w... was confirmed. If neither happened, that is worth challenging.
- If 20 or more people at your workplace were being made redundant together, consultationA process your employer is required to carry out before making significant decisions that affect you, most commonly redundancy. It must be genuine, meaning your employer must listen and consider what ... should have started well before any dismissals took effect, not after they had already been decided.
- If your employer has gone into liquidation or administration, get advice early. You can usually still bring a claim, but the process and time limits can be confusing, and it helps to have someone check the details against what actually happened.
The situation
An employee at H Newton Hale & Sons Limited was made redundant when the company went into creditors' voluntary liquidationVoluntary liquidation is when a company's directors or shareholders choose to close it down and sell its assets to pay off debts, rather than being forced to by a court. If your employer goes into vol.... Before the redundancies went ahead, the company never held the election for staff representatives that the law requires when a business proposes to make a group of employees redundant together. When the employee brought a tribunal claim over this, the company did not defend it and did not attend the hearing.
What the tribunal found
The tribunal found in the employee's favour. Under section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, an employer proposing to make a group of staff redundant together must either consult recognised employee representatives or hold an election so staff can choose their own. H Newton Hale & Sons Limited did neither. Because the company did not appear to explain or defend its position, the tribunal ordered the maximum penalty available: a protective award of 90 days' pay under section 189(3) of the Act, running from 1 August 2025.
Lewis v H Newton Hale & Sons Ltd (in creditors voluntary liquidation). Case 6034662/2025. Employment Tribunal. May 2026.