Claimant v Reveles Energy Ltd (in Administration) and Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy — 2022

Mrs R Winton brought multiple protective award claims on behalf of the claimants against Reveles Energy Limited (in administration). The Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy was joined because any award could involve payment from the national insurance fund. The respondent did not appear. The tribunal heard oral evidence from Mrs Winton and Glen Strange and accepted written evidence from four other witnesses as confirmatory.

The tribunal found that all of the claimants were made redundant on 1 November 2021 without prior information or consultation, and that this was a collective redundancy. It held that the respondent had totally failed to comply with section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 in circumstances where it was proposing to dismiss 20 or more employees as redundant within 90 days at the establishment to which the claimants were assigned. The complaints under section 189 were therefore well founded.

For remedy, the tribunal identified the protected period as 90 days from 1 November 2021 to 29 January 2022, the statutory maximum. It said the respondent’s fault was total and that this justified the maximum protected period. The tribunal ordered remuneration under section 190 for the claimants listed in the schedule attached to the judgment and noted that the Employment Protection (Recoupment of Job Seekers Allowance and Income Support) Regulations 1996 applied.