Miss D Ford v Adrian Hall Ltd in Creditors Voluntary Liquidation — 2023

The tribunal found that on 16 August 2022 the claimants were told the garden centre was closing immediately, were asked to complete their tasks, and then attended a meeting at which liquidators were appointed and they were dismissed. It accepted that there had been some earlier discussion in March and April about a possible TUPE transfer, but found that none of the claimants had any prior indication before that day that their employment was at risk.

The tribunal accepted redundancy as the reason for dismissal because the business was closing and the respondent's need for the claimants' work had ceased, but it held that the dismissals were unfair because the respondent took no steps to consult or discuss the risk to employment or possible ways of avoiding it. On remedy, the tribunal recorded that the claimants had already received the basic award/redudancy payment from the Insolvency Service, so no further basic award was made. It found that the respondent's financial position meant consultation would not have extended employment or delayed liquidation, so no award was made for future loss of earnings.

The tribunal then awarded each claimant £500 for loss of continuity of service, saying at paragraph 14 that it had overlooked that element at the hearing. That produced a total award of £2,000 across the four claimants.