Sophie Theakston v Pool & Spa Manufacturing Limited (in compulsory liquidation) Heard: by Cloud Video Platform on 19 March 2025 — 2025

The claimant, Sophie Theakston, brought claims including unfair dismissal, notice pay and holiday pay after working for the respondent from 5 July 2023 until 30 March 2024. The background to this reconsideration judgment records that the unfair dismissal claim had already been struck out in the judgment sent on 27 January 2025 because she had been employed for less than two years.

At the hearing on 19 March 2025, the main issue was whether the claimant had been employed by One Pool & Spa Limited, company number 12607128, or by Pool & Spa Manufacturing Limited, company number 14446259. The tribunal found that both the original contract and the replacement contract identified company number 14446259, that the claimant accepted in evidence that this was the company that employed her, and that the company had changed names over time from One Pool & Spa Ltd to One Pool and Spa Manufacturing Ltd and then Pool & Spa Manufacturing Ltd. The company now known as One Pool & Spa Ltd was therefore not the claimant's employer and was removed as a respondent.

The tribunal noted that, at the end of the hearing, it had orally indicated that the claimant would succeed on notice pay and holiday pay and that sums would be ordered. It then reconsidered that oral judgment after checking section 130(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986, because the remaining respondent was in compulsory liquidation. The written judgment states that proceedings against a company in compulsory liquidation must be stayed without the court's permission, so the oral judgment was varied and replaced by a stay rather than a final substantive award.