Mr D Kelly, Solicitor For the First v Simonstone (Bristol) Ltd (In Administration) and 2 others — 2021

This was a claim by 13 employees of Simonstone (Bristol) Limited (in administration) for a protective award under section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The tribunal found that the company lost its FCA franchise on 19 December 2019, told staff to go home early for Christmas on 20 December 2019, and on 2 January 2020 told them there was no chance of the branch reopening and that about 30 employees, including the claimants, were dismissed redundant with immediate effect.

The tribunal found there was no recognised trade union at the business and no employee representatives were elected for collective consultation. It found that the respondent took no steps to elect representatives or to consult with any of the employees between 20 December 2019 and 2 January 2020, and therefore failed to undertake any adequate consultation before the dismissals.

The respondent accepted that it had not consulted at least 30 days before the first dismissals took effect, but relied on section 188(7) and special circumstances arising from the unforeseen and unprecedented situation. The tribunal referred to Clarks of Hove Ltd v The Bakers Union and Shanahan Engineering Ltd v Unite the Union, and held that even if special circumstances existed the employer still had to take all reasonably practicable steps towards compliance. On the evidence, the respondent had taken no such steps, so the special circumstances defence did not apply.

The complaint that the respondent failed to comply with section 188 was therefore well founded, and the tribunal made a protective award for the claimants who were employed at the Bristol premises and dismissed as redundant on or after 2 January 2020. The award covered remuneration for a protected period of 90 days beginning on 2 January 2020. The respondent entered administration on 14 January 2020.