Thomas Cook had approximately 9,000 UK staff and 21,000 around the world who were left without jobsWith the sad news that the Thomas Cook Group Plc entered into compulsory liquidation (a type of insolvency), Newcastle law firm Beecham Peacock wanted to share some useful guidance on how to recover some of the monies owed from an insolvent employer.
Where your former employer becomes insolvent, you may be able to claim the following payments from the Redundancy Payments Office:
- a redundancy payment;
- holiday pay;
- outstanding payments like unpaid wages, overtime and commission; and/or
- money you would have earned working your notice period (‘statutory notice pay’).
You would claim these payments by submitting an ‘RP1 Form’ to the Redundancy Payments Office. This form should be provided to you by the Insolvency Practitioner appointed to deal with your former employer. If you are owed notice pay, you will be sent a separate form to claim this payment following submission of your RP1.
You should be aware that these payments are subject to maximum caps. At present the cap is £525 per week, but this is reviewed annually. There may also be a cap on the number of weeks that you are able to claim these payments for.
For example:
- with a deduction from wages you are only able to claim up to a maximum of 8 weeks’ pay
- for holiday pay you are only able to claim up to a maximum of up to 6 weeks’ pay
- for notice pay you are only able to claim up to a maximum of 12 weeks’ pay; and you are only able to claim Statutory Redundancy Pay (which will depend upon your length of service; age at the time of dismissal, and wage at the date of dismissal, again subject to the cap on a weeks’ pay of £525).
This means that you may not be able to claim all of the monies you are owed from the Redundancy Payments Office.
Any amount that exceeds these payments can be claimed from the Company as an ordinary creditor, but you should aware that there may be costs involved in doing so and you will only receive payment once all priority creditors have been paid. You would therefore have to weigh up the cost against the effectiveness of such a course of action.
If you have a question about redundancy, or any of your employment rights then our Employment Team can help. Here at Beecham Peacock we have a trusted relationship with some of the largest trade unions in the country to protect your working rights. For further information call us on 0191 232 3048 or email enquire@beechampeacock.co.uk.
Recruiters love this COMPLETE set of Accredited Recruitment & HR Training – View Training Brochure
