unrepresented For the v Respondent — 2025

Mr J Bamford, who was unrepresented, brought complaints seeking a redundancy payment, notice pay and unpaid annual leave following his removal from employment with Moorland Private School Limited (in voluntary liquidation). The respondent did not attend the hearing or file a response. Judge Johnson found that the tribunal’s papers had been sent to the respondent’s registered office, that the respondent had notice of the claim, and that there was no reasonable excuse for its failure to respond. The tribunal decided the case on the balance of probabilities.

The tribunal accepted that on 26 July 2024 the claimant was warned by Jane Thornton that he was at risk of redundancy, but no formal notification of redundancy risk or proposed dismissal date was given and no formal consultation took place. The claimant had not been paid on 31 July 2024 and started ACAS early conciliation and presented his claim that same day. A letter from the insolvency practitioner dated 1 August 2024 confirmed termination of employment but did not state a termination date; the tribunal found the claimant did not receive it until 7 August 2024, and treated that as the effective date of termination.

On the redundancy payment, the tribunal found the claimant was 38 years old at termination, had 4 completed years of service from 30 September 2019, and had a gross weekly pay of £298. It awarded £1,192 as redundancy pay. On notice pay, the tribunal construed section 5.3 of the contract as providing for the lower of a full term’s pay or £5,000 and awarded the claimant £3,580.32 as full term’s pay for the failure to give correct notice.

On unpaid annual leave, the tribunal accepted that the claimant had 8 weeks of untaken entitlement remaining under his contract, described as approximately 16 weeks per year, and awarded £2,384. The total award was £7,156.12 in full and final settlement of the three complaints.