(1) NASUWT Trade Union (2) Mr S Goodison (3) Ms J Rushworth (4) Ms B Moorhouse v Heathland School Limited in Administration) and 1 other — 2023

The tribunal, proceeding under rule 21 with no response presented, found that the first respondent had failed to comply with section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. NASUWT was the recognised trade union for professional employees, and the tribunal found that it was not consulted about the proposed redundancies or about measures connected with those dismissals. The tribunal accepted that the first respondent appointed administrators and that relevant employees were dismissed by reason of redundancy on or around 1 March 2022, with 44 employees dismissed at the establishment on or around the same date.

Under section 189 of the 1992 Act, the tribunal made a protective award for each employee for whom NASUWT was recognised, set at the maximum protected period of 90 days' pay beginning on 1 March 2022. The judgment also records that the Employment Protection (Recoupment of Jobseeker's Allowance and Income Support) Regulations 1996 apply, so the respondent must provide the prescribed employee details to the Secretary of State and payment under the protective award is subject to the recoupment process.

The individual claimants' redundancy payment claims were not pursued: their representative confirmed on 28 February 2023 that they were not claiming redundancy payments and that the box had been ticked in error. The judgment also states that no claim against Grant Thornton UK LLP had been identified or pursued and that the claims against the second respondent were dismissed. The tribunal noted that the protective award itself was not financially quantified in the judgment and that any dispute about payment would be dealt with separately under section 192 of the 1992 Act.