Protective Award Claims

1. What is a Protective Award claim?

A Protective Award is an award that an Employment Tribunal will order an Employer to pay to its employees where the Employer has failed to properly inform and consult with employees prior to making 20 or more redundancies.

They usually arise when an employer has become insolvent or gone into administration and the staff are instantly made redundant without prior consultation.

This is a group claim meaning it must be brought jointly by a number of employees, with one employee as a ‘Lead Claimant’ who we will liaise primarily with.

2. What can I claim?

A Tribunal can order that the Employer should pay up to 90 days’ pay. As your Employer is in administration, the claim will be brought against the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as well as the Employer. Therefore, as the Employer will not be in a position to pay, the Redundancy Payment Office (“RPO”) will pay each affected employee up to 8 weeks’ pay in respect of the award.

3. What is the process?

• Firstly, we will need to obtain permission from the administrator to proceed with the claim. We are confident we will be able to do this in your case.
• We shall then be required to refer the matter to ACAS for Early Conciliation. This step is mandatory.
• At the end of the ACAS Early Conciliation process, we shall receive your ACAS Early Conciliation Certificate. We can then use this certificate to issue a formal group claim at the Employment Tribunal. It’s unlikely that your former employer will defend the claim, given that they are in administration.
• We will then attend any Employment Tribunal hearings on your behalf, adhere to all Case Management orders, and work hard to obtain a judgment in your favour.
• A small number of you will be required to provide witness statements at the final hearing. We can discuss this as the case proceeds.
• If, as expected, we secure a judgment in your favour, we shall then seek to recover your compensation from the RPO.

4. How long will the process take?

An Employment Tribunal claim usually takes 6 to 12 months. But once judgment is received from the Employment Tribunal, you can expect to receive payment within 6 weeks of applying to the Redundancy Payments Office.

5. Will it cost me anything?

No. We can deal with Protective Award claims under a Damages Based Agreement (“DBA”) which is a No Win No Fee Agreement.  This means we will recover a percentage of the amount we recover from you.  If we are not successful in this claim, you will not pay us a penny.