Winding up the business

Where a liquidator has been appointed to sell the assets, pay off creditors and wind up the business (compulsory liquidation), Regulation 4 (transfer of employment, terms and conditions) and Regulation 7 (automatically unfair dismissal) do not apply (Regulation 8(7), TUPE).

Employees of the insolvent business can claim the following payments from the National Insurance Fund:

• statutory notice pay;

• pay arrears (maximum of eight weeks’ pay); and

• holiday pay (maximum of six weeks’ pay).

“Arrears of pay” includes any pay awarded under a protective award (see page 52). All payments are capped at the weekly pay levels of the statutory redundancy scheme (£489 from April 2017). Any sums beyond these amounts must be claimed in the liquidation.

Payments are processed by the Insolvency Service Redundancy Payments Service. The service runs an Enquiry Line, tel: 0300 678 0015). Any claim should be made without delay.

Unpaid statutory benefits such as statutory sick pay or statutory maternity pay become the responsibility of HM Revenue & Customs statutory payment disputes team, tel: 03000 560 630.