Mrs R Moore v J & Y Webber Services Ltd t/a Bluebird Care Lincoln (in voluntary liquidation) — 2025

The tribunal found that the claimant’s contract was a flexible contract for a minimum of 25 hours per week and expressly guaranteed payment for 25 hours. It recorded that, in earlier weeks when she had not worked a full 25 hours, she had still been paid for 25 hours in accordance with that contract. For the week of 1 to 7 February 2024, the claimant made herself available for work, but the respondent cancelled her return-to-work meeting and then did not respond to her communications. The tribunal held that she was entitled to be paid for the guaranteed 25 hours that week and awarded £365.25 as wages owed.

The tribunal also found that the holiday pay issue was not about untaken accrued leave on termination, so there was no question of carrying leave forward from one year to the next. Instead, it found that the claimant had previously taken holidays and had been underpaid for them. The respondent had identified the underpayment, calculated what remained due, and prepared a payslip for that amount, but it wrongly told HMRC that the amount had been paid and never actually paid the claimant. The tribunal therefore held that £163.18 remained owing as wages.

The claimant’s claim about a reduction in Universal Credit was dismissed on withdrawal because the tribunal had ordered payment of the holiday pay that had caused the reduction. The tribunal noted that if the holiday pay is not paid, the claimant can inform the Universal Credit service. No separate compensatory, injury to feelings, or interest award was recorded.