Hello,

My wife started work with a large company (co X) in 1994. Her employment included membership of a company long-term disability scheme (provided by Co Y). Some time after this, she was forced to stop work due to health issues. She has since been receiving disability benefit from Co Y (with payments made via her normal payroll). Some years ago, her employment was transferred to another Company (Co Z) under TUPE regulations. She has continued to receive disability payments from Co Y (now via Co Z's payroll). Recently, she has been informed that Co Z are planning significant numbers of redundancies and that her position may be included.
The only details provided to my wife regarding the disability scheme were given in an employee's handbook at the start of her employment with Co X. Specific relevant details of this included:
"Q: When does the benefit stop?
A: Benefit will cease on the earliest of the following occurrences:- Recovery; Death; Attainment of normal retirement date"
"Q: What happens if I am absent from work?
A: If you are temporarily absent from work with the agreement of the Company, you will continue to be covered for benefits for as long as you continue to be a permanent employee of the company" (the first part of this is not relevent, but the last phrase may be.)
"The Company resevres the right to terminate or amend the Scheme at any time. Termination or amendment would not however affect claims already admitted"

So the question is: can Co Z make my wife redundant, thereby depriving her of disability benefits (if indeed she does need to still be employed by Co Z to receive them)? I have seen brief reference to some cases where Co Y has agreed to pay claimants directly and this would seem to be one possible solution.
There are other issues related to accrued holiday entitlement, but we'll tackle these later!
Many thanks