Miss S Collins v Solair Ltd (in Voluntary Liquidation) and 1 other — 2025

This was a reconsideration of the judgment dated 21 March 2025 in joined protective award proceedings. In Miss Collins’ case, the tribunal had previously dismissed her claim as out of time. On reconsideration, the tribunal accepted that her application raised new information, including evidence about her partner’s illness and the steps she took before presenting the claim, and decided to determine the application without a hearing.

The tribunal found that Miss Collins was dismissed on 25 September 2023 and that, in reality, ACAS early conciliation should have been started by 24 December 2023. It accepted that she was initially in shock after dismissal and, more importantly, that her long-term partner became ill only a couple of weeks later, was admitted to hospital on 6 November 2023, was readmitted on 1 December 2023 until 24 December 2023, and required ongoing care. The tribunal treated that care as taking priority and found that it was reasonable that she did not research her rights during that period.

Applying section 189(5) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, and referring to the authorities it cited on the meaning of “not reasonably practicable” and the need to present the claim within a reasonable further period, the tribunal held that it was not reasonably practicable for Miss Collins to present the claim within the three-month time limit. It also held that, once she learned of the possibility of a protective award, she acted within a reasonable further period: she contacted ACAS on 15 February 2024 and presented the tribunal claim on 26 February 2024. The tribunal noted that some of the time-limit information she found online related to Redundancy Payments Service claims rather than Employment Tribunal claims, but accepted that her confusion was genuine in the circumstances.

The tribunal therefore varied the earlier judgment so that Miss Collins’ claim was no longer dismissed for being out of time and succeeded. It made a protective award for a protected period of 90 days from 25 September 2023, and stated that the Recoupment Regulations apply. No separate monetary figure for the award was set out in the judgment text provided.