Mrs S Miller v Round Green Pre School (Charity Number 1046943) — 2023

Mrs S Miller brought a claim for a redundancy payment after her employment as Deputy Early Years Manager/Administrator with Round Green Pre-School, which had run from 1 October 2010 to 29 July 2022. She had contacted ACAS on 2 August 2022, obtained her certificate on 31 August 2022, and presented her claim on 14 September 2022. The respondent did not present a response, and the matter proceeded under Rule 21 on the evidence of the claimant alone.

The tribunal found that on 1 July 2022 the claimant was told that the pre-school was closing at the end of term and that her role would be made redundant with effect from 29 July 2022. It further found that the management committee resigned on 6 July 2022, that the claimant understood from Ofsted that the pre-school could not continue without a committee, and that the business closed from that point and did not reopen.

On those facts, the tribunal was satisfied that the claimant was dismissed for the reason of redundancy because the respondent's need for an employee to carry out the work the claimant did had ceased on closure of the business. The tribunal recorded the claimant's pay in the months before dismissal, found an average gross monthly pay of £1,172.32, and converted that to a weekly figure of £270.53.

Applying the statutory redundancy formula, the tribunal found that the claimant had 11 complete years of service and was 50 years old at dismissal, with 9 years at age 41 or over. It awarded 9 weeks at 1.5 times weekly pay and 2 weeks at weekly pay, producing a total redundancy payment of £4,193.21. The opening paragraph of the judgment states a figure of £3,827.26, but the reasons section contains the detailed calculation leading to £4,193.21.