Asset sales

Where a liquidator is appointed to sell the assets, pay off creditors and wind up the business, TUPE will not transfer the employment contracts and liabilities of the transferor’s staff. Employees of the insolvent business can claim the following payments from the Redundancy Payments Office (the RPO), a division of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS):

• statutory notice pay;

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

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

“Arrears of pay” includes any statutory guarantee payment, any payment for time off for trade union duties, suspension on medical or maternity grounds and any pay awarded under a protective award. All payments are capped at the weekly pay levels of the statutory redundancy scheme (£450 in 2013/14). Any sums beyond these amounts must be claimed in the liquidation of the company.

A claim is made is made by completing Form RP1. Employees can get a copy of the form by calling: 0845 015 0010 and quoting URN 10/708. Any claim should be made as soon as possible. There is no online version of the form. Further advice, along with an updated Redundancy Payments Fact Sheet explaining how to make a claim, is available from the website of the Insolvency Service at www.bis.gov.uk/assets/insolvency/docs/forms/redundancy-payments/rp1-factsheet.pdf