Mr Legge and others (see Schedule) v Nationwide Crash Repair Centres Ltd and others (see Schedule) — 2022

These claims formed part of a larger multiple of protective award claims against Nationwide companies, and the administrators had permission for the claims to proceed without actively defending them. The tribunal nevertheless scrutinised the cases because any protective award would ultimately be met through public funds. It referred to USDAW and anor v Ethel Austin Ltd and ors [2015] ICR 675 when considering whether the claimants were attached to establishments where there was a proposal to dismiss 20 or more employees.

The tribunal accepted that Mr Legge had been assigned to the Daventry site after Warwick closed, and that this was not merely an error in the employer’s electronic records. It found that the position at the time was fluid, including because some employees were still furloughed, and that the numbers at Daventry had been underestimated. On that basis, the tribunal was satisfied that there had been at least 20 proposed redundancies at Daventry and made protective awards in favour of Mr Legge, Mr Nijjar and Mr Shields by consent.

The tribunal made a 90-day protective award, beginning on 4 September 2020. It also recorded that there was no order as to costs or fees, and that the Employment Protection (Recoupment of Benefits) Regulations 1996 applied to the award.

By contrast, Mrs Goggins was found to have been assigned to Coventry, and the information supplied by both her and the administrators showed fewer than 20 employees were proposed to be made redundant from that establishment. She did not attend the hearing, and Mr Legge could give no evidence about her circumstances or the Coventry site. The tribunal therefore could not make a protective award in her case, and her claim was not well-founded.