Redundancy on Mat Leave and payment issues

I am currently on Maternity leave. Had planned to go back 1 March after 9 months. At end of Jan my employer (small business but Ltd Co.) advised that there was no longer a job for me and I would be made redundant.

This has only been done verbally - nothing at all in writing.

For various reasons she does not want to liquidate the company but cannot afford to pay what I am entitled to.

She tells me she has made a claim for some sort of loan to the Insolvancy Service and is waiting for them to come back to her. Not sure if this is just to string me along or not.

I have written to her stating that given the situation that I will extend my Mat leave for the full 12 months (so returning 1/6) unless I hear from her otherwise. Have stated that I am prepared to work my notice period but that she must advise me when this will take effect.

I have not had a response to this.

I have worked for the Co. for 9 years and I'm the only employee.

In addition to any Statuatory Redundancy, she currently owes me:

Salary for November 2008
Mat Pay for Dec 2009
Mat Pay for Feb 2010
The non-payment of Mat pay is particularly annoying as I know she was paid the money up front by the NI service.

I will also be due:
9 weeks notice/notice pay
6 weeks holiday pay (accrued during my Mat leave)

I have had no pay slips during my Mat leave and have asked for clarity regarding what tax & NI has been paid. She has not responded to this.

I do not have a written contract.

What is my best course of action please?

Hmmm. Sounds like she is in some serious financial trouble. Given the fact that she's not paid you even money she received upfront, I probably wouldn't have been inclined to help her out by extending your maternity leave.

Given you've not even had a response to that, I think it's time to get formal and do your best to force her to do things correctly and fairly. You have to give 8 weeks' notice to change your maternity dates so I would write now giving formal notice that you will be returning to work in 8 weeks' time. Say that following your verbal notification of redundancy in January, you have not received anything in writing confirming the situation or giving you a termination date, and unless and until you do, you must assume your employment will continue and as such you will be returning to work on x date.

Outline formally exactly what she owes you so far (not including redundancy pay at this stage) and formally request that this money is paid to you immediately, otherwise you will be forced to look into your legal options for recovery.

Hopefully this will force her to at least respond to you in terms of both your redundancy and the money owed you. As you say, there's no reason she can't pay you your maternity pay as she received that up front. In fact as a very small employer she will have received a bit extra as well, I think it's 104% of SMP or something that very small employers get.

You need to put all these things in writing formally as a first step. She's obviously not going to help you out and although getting formal like this probably feels 'wrong' in such a small company with just the two of you, you need to think of yourself, which she is not doing.

Thanks you so much for taking the time to reply and for the advice which all makes sense. Much appreciated.