Claimant v Tillery Valley Foods Ltd (in Administration) and Secretary of State for Business and Trade — 2024

At Cardiff by video on 15 August 2024, Employment Judge S Jenkins sitting with Mr P Collier and Mr P Pendle considered Community Union's complaint under section 189 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The tribunal found that Tillery Valley Foods Ltd entered administration on 17 May 2023, that all employees employed at that point were dismissed by reason of redundancy, and that those employees were of a description in respect of which the first claimant was recognised by the respondent.

On that basis, the tribunal held that the first respondent had failed to comply with section 188 and that the first claimant's complaint was well founded. It ordered a protective award for all employees employed at the point of administration, equivalent to remuneration for a protected period of 90 days beginning on 17 May 2023. The Employment Protection (Recoupment of Benefits) Regulations 1996 were stated to apply.

Because the tribunal had concluded that the relevant employees fell within a description recognised by the first claimant, the individual claims brought by the second to fifth claimants were dismissed. The extracted judgment does not set out any separate monetary figure for the protective award, only the 90-day protected period and the recoupment appendix.