Mrs A Bullock v Steve Webb Models Limited (In Creditors Voluntary Liquidation) and 1 other — 2025

At a public preliminary hearing on 7 May 2024, Employment Judge Dennehy Case determined only the claimant’s status for the purpose of her redundancy payment claim. Mrs Bullock said she was entitled to a redundancy payment from the National Insurance Fund as an employee of the insolvent company. The first respondent did not appear. The second respondent argued that she was not an employee, had no express or implied contract of employment, was a 50% shareholder and joint decision-maker with her brother, and had invested £5,000 in the business.

The tribunal found that Mrs Bullock had worked in the business for many years, had been appointed a director in 2003, and received monthly wages and dividends, but it placed significant weight on the absence of any employment contract, the fact that she and her brother were the joint owners and ultimate decision-makers, and the evidence that she hired staff, arranged contracts for other employees, and was involved in dismissals. It found there was no one superior to her in the business, no sufficient control or supervision by another person, and no mutuality of obligations consistent with a contract of employment.

Applying the authorities it cited on employee status, including section 230 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, Ready Mixed Concrete, and the later director-status cases, the tribunal concluded that the factors pointing away from employee status outweighed those in her favour. It held that she fell outside the category of employee for the purposes of the claim, and therefore the claim against the second respondent was not well founded and failed. No monetary remedy was awarded.