Mr M Holden v Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy — 2019

The claimant sought payment from the National Insurance Fund after his former employer, DVG Stone Limited, went into liquidation. The Secretary of State denied liability on the basis that there had been a transfer of undertaking to This Is Stone Limited before the insolvency, so the tribunal had to decide whether the claimant's employment had transferred.

The tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence that he remained employed by DVG Stone when it became insolvent on 18 June 2018, that he had not been told about any transfer, and that he was never paid by This Is Stone. The documentary material showed a later asset sale, probably on 17 July 2018, and suggested an intention to transfer employees, but did not show that a transfer of undertaking had actually occurred before the insolvency.

The tribunal concluded there was no transfer of undertaking from DVG Stone Limited to This Is Stone Limited and that the claimant was employed by DVG Stone at the date of insolvency. It therefore held that he was entitled to payment from the National Insurance Fund for redundancy pay and notice pay, totalling £17,780.