ETZ 4(WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 4111706/2021; 4111604/2021 & Others; 4111789/2021 & Others; 4100622/2022 & Others; 4100570/2022 & Others; 4100916/2022 & Others; 4100931/2022 & Others; and 4111787/2021 (All as per Attached Schedule) In the Edinburgh Employment Tribunal Employment Judge: M A Macleod Miss A Koch & Others v (All as per Attached Schedule) The People’s Energy Company Limited — 2022

This was a consent judgment in connected claims brought by employees of The People's Energy Company Ltd (in administration), and the tribunal recorded that the employing entity at all material times was the respondent. The judgment also states that it encompassed claims against The People's Energy (Supply) Limited. The respondent entered administration on 24 September 2021, there were approximately 400 employees, and the first dismissal in these cases took effect on 28 September 2021.

The tribunal found that the claimants were dismissed by reason of redundancy within the same 90-day period. It accepted that the respondent informed employees of the need for redundancies, appointed employee representatives and consulted with those representatives, but was unable to inform and consult the claimants to the full extent required by sections 188 and 188A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 because of the supplier of last resort process. On that basis, the complaints under section 189 seeking a protective award were held to be well founded and succeeded.

The protected period was fixed at 8 weeks, and each claimant was entitled to remuneration in respect of that period. The judgment further recorded that the Protective Award Payments were not to be an expense of the administration and were not payable by the joint administrators, but would rank and be distributed in due course in accordance with the Insolvency Act 1986 and the Insolvency (Scotland) (Company Voluntary Arrangements and Administration) Rules 2018. No order as to expenses was made.