What is a Protective Award?

You may have read in the news that a group of Thomas Cook’s redundant employees were raising an action to secure a Protective Award.  So how does this differ from other employee entitlements, as detailed in Lynn Barr’s article ‘Employee Entitlements when your employer goes bust‘?

Margaret Linn answers the question “What is a Protective Award?”

A Protective Award may be made where the employer has failed to adhere to the redundancy consultation process.

If an employer is making 20 or more employees redundant, they must adhere to legal requirements including entering into a consultation process.  There is no time limit for the length of the consultation process but there are minimum time limits of at least 30 days before dismissal for between 20 to 99 employees and at least 45 days if there are 100 redundancies or more. Given the nature of Thomas Cook’s collapse, the employees believe that there was inadequate consultation.

To get an Award there is a requirement for the employee to have an employment tribunal judgement in their favour. If the employer is solvent, then the employer must pay this. If it is insolvent the award will be paid by the Government, capped at 8 weeks wages at the statutory limit which is currently £719 per week.

Full details of Protective Awards can be found on the Insolvency Services website here.


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Shona Campbell

Shona Campbell

Chair & Partner

I am Chair of Henderson Loggie and head up the firm’s Business Recovery and Insolvency team. I have over twenty-five years of experience advising businesses, the majority of that time dealing with businesses facing some…
Margaret Linn

Margaret Linn

Manager

I have 25 years’ experience working in Insolvency, both personal and corporate.  I advise individuals and company directors who find themselves in financial difficulty and am committed to finding a tailored solution that serves the…