Case 3200253/2025 · Employment Tribunal
(1) Ms J. Simpson (2) Ms A. Tapsell (3) Ms M. Glover v The Vocational Academy Essex Limited — 2026
- Case reference
- 3200253/2025
- Decision date
- 23 June 2026
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Massarella Representation
Parties
2 namedClaimant
(1) Ms J. Simpson (2) Ms A. Tapsell (3) Ms M. Glover
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningMs J. Simpson, Ms A. Tapsell and Ms M. Glover brought claims for notice pay, holiday pay, arrears of pay and redundancy payments against The Vocational Academy Essex (in creditors’ voluntary liquidation). None of the Claimants attended or was represented at the final hearing on 23 June 2026. After the Tribunal contacted them and warned that the case would be dismissed if nobody attended by 10.30 am, Ms Simpson emailed at 10.45 am stating that she believed the hearing was on 26 June and that the Claimants still wished to pursue the case. The notice of hearing sent on 10 March 2026 stated that the hearing date was 23 June 2026.
The Tribunal applied rule 47 with regard to Roberts v Skelmersdale College [2004] IRLR 69. It found that the Claimants had not supplied the employment, pay and claim-calculation information ordered by Employment Judge Povey. The Tribunal concluded that the claims could not have been decided without that information and that the Claimants had also provided no evidence addressing whether time could be extended for claims that were out of time.
Employment Judge Massarella considered that dismissal under rule 47 was a severe sanction and considered adjourning the hearing. The Judge declined to adjourn because the case had already been postponed several times, relisting would cause further delay, and the hearing could have proceeded that day had the Claimants complied with the earlier order and attended. The entire case was dismissed under rule 47 without a determination of the claims on their merits, and no monetary award was made.
Claims and outcomes
4 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wrongful dismissal | The notice pay claim was dismissed under rule 47 because the Claimants neither attended nor were represented at the final hearing; its merits were not determined. | Dismissed | — | — |
| Holiday pay | The holiday pay claim was dismissed under rule 47 because the Claimants neither attended nor were represented at the final hearing; its merits were not determined. | Dismissed | — | — |
| Unlawful deduction from wages | The arrears of pay claim was dismissed under rule 47 because the Claimants neither attended nor were represented at the final hearing; its merits were not determined. | Dismissed | — | — |
| Redundancy | The redundancy payment claim was dismissed under rule 47 because the Claimants neither attended nor were represented at the final hearing; its merits were not determined. | Dismissed | — | — |
Legal tests applied
2 references- rule 47
- Roberts v Skelmersdale College [2004] IRLR 69
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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