If your employer failed to consult with you on your redundancy, you may be entitled to a Protective Award
A Protective Award is an award of compensation of up to 90 days’ gross pay which employees are entitled to if they have not been collectively informed and consulted with prior to their redundancy. This applies to situations of 20 or more employees, within a 90 day period.
If you are an employee who has recently been made redundant, it is important that you get legal advice as soon as possible to protect your legal rights.
Firstly, you must have been dismissed, or are about to be dismissed as redundant. It does not matter how long you have been employed for. If these apply, then the conditions that are needed to make a Protective Award claim are that:
Your employer has a legal duty to consult with a Trade Union or employee representatives when making collective redundancies of 20 or more employees at one workplace. The consultation must take place at least 30 days before the first dismissal takes effect (and 45 days if 100 or more employees are being made redundant). This is still the case even if your employer became insolvent.
If you are represented by a trade union, they can put forward a claim on your behalf. If you are not a member of a trade union, you can pursue the claim for the compensation yourself in an Employment Tribunal; or our Employment Lawyers can instruct you on the claim.
The Employment Tribunal can award you of 90 days’ gross pay if the employer did not consult with at all on your redundancy.
The award of compensation would be less if the employer had engaged in some, but not an adequate amount of consultation with its employees.
In certain situations, where your employer has become insolvent, you will not be entitled to an award of compensation, but you can still make a claim for a Protective Award and will be entitled to receive payment under The Government’s National Insurance Fund. The National Insurance Fund guarantees Protective Award payments of up to eight weeks’ pay, with a weekly pay cap of £544.
Try out or simple Protective Awards Calculator to see how much you could claim.
Fill in the form below to see how much you could claim if you’re eligible for a Protective Award.
You have three months minus one day from the day you were made redundant for bringing a Protective Award claim.
This time frame begins on the date of the last person who was dismissed within the 90 day period.
You would have to commence the ACAS early conciliation process before commencing a claim in the Employment Tribunal. Linder Myers can help assist you with this.
Protective Award claims are a straightforward, however the process can be complicated if you are not exactly sure of your rights and how the claim process works.
If you and your colleagues join together to put your claims in, this makes the process significantly easier.
Linder Myers employment team, leading with Employment Partner, Alan Lewis, have exceptional expertise and experience in Protective Awards acting for several organisations in a variety of industries. For example, we successfully represented a group of 264 employees and obtained Protective Awards to the value of in excess of £2 million against Kaiam Europe Limited alongside representing employees of Bredbury Hall, Scott Green and several others.
Linder Myers works with you on a no win no fee basis, meaning that if we are unable to recover an award on your behalf, there is no fee payable.
We offer a free initial call to anyone who would like to discuss their redundancy and whether they’re eligible for a Protective Award.
Fill out the form below for your free consultation and our professional, experienced solicitors will get in touch at a time convenient for you.
We are happy to help.
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