Employer delaying redundancy payments. What can I do?

Hi everyone,

If I start by saying that I'm not an expert but over the last 5 months I have become quite knowledgeable on redundancy but have reached a stage where I need advice as information online is a bit limited as to whether my ex-employer can get away with his plan!

If I quickly recount the saga (apologies for the length but it is a long saga) so far so it will be easier to understand our situation and I'll also point out that all communication has been carried out by letter sent recorded delivery:

• I was one of 4 people made redundant without notice in Nov 2010 after being called into a surprise meeting and informed we could either go self employed and pay our boss a management fee or be out of a job.

• The owner of the company tried to avoid redundancy payments by claiming he had only recently acquired the company and we were entitled to nothing.

• We researched the TUPE regulations with help of Citizens Advice and pointed out that this was not acceptable

• The owner accepted partial liability and offered a token amount in settlement saying that's all he has so accept it or receive nothing.

• We declined and requested the full redundancy amount, Outstanding holiday, PILON and our P45s which we still had not received.

• The owner then offered half and said that it was an interim payment until we could prove when we actually started with the company (10+ years ago).

• We retrieved NI records using the Data Protection Act to prove our length of service and provided copies to the owner politely pointing out that this answered his request and to pay the remaining balance to avoid us going to a tribunal.

Now onto the actual problem...

We have been informed that the owner has accepted the proof and financial liability but claims that he will not have the funds to pay the balance until his house (which is on the market) has sold. He has offered to pay the balance to us then, with an added interest amount equal to the time taken multiplied by the BofE base rate.

The company is still trading and I fear this is simply a delaying tactic to avoid paying what amounts to thousands of pounds for the next 6-9 months.

I am aware I could make a claim using form RP1(I think) if the employer can't pay and the company has gone into liquidation but this is not the case.

I need to know if we have to accept this settlement, whether we can force immediate payment, whether the NI fund can cover our situation or are we now reduced to dragging this through a tribunal?

It has been a very stressful 5 months and I just want an end to it.

Hope someone can enlighten me.

Many Thanks

A very confused and tired person

Unfortunately, the answer is that you should have done more reading online. You should never have accepted the delay, because now you cannot make a claim to a tribunal because you are two months past the deadline! You had three months less a day from the date of your redundancy to claim, and that was in November. You may be able to pursue a civil claim, but I am afraid that isn't my area of expertise and I have never come across a case of claiming redundancy payments as a civil debt - because I have never come across anyone willing to wait five months before they get payment. You will have to get legal advice from someone dealing with civil claims of debt.

But I was advised by both citizens advice and ACAS that there was a 6 month deadline?

The only reason it has taken so long is
a) the employer doesn't answer phone calls and claims letters weren't received (hence the recorded delivery)
b) the employer has taken a long time to respond to every communication letter sent.
c) National Insurance took 2 months to deal with the request under the data protection act.

honestly, I'm not sure my mental state can take much more of this but none of us have been willing to wait 5 months for payment. It has been forced upon us by the owner using every trick in the book to slow us down and dispute payment.

Edit: Apologies as have just looked back over my paperwork and I was mistaken. You are totally correct and it is 3 months unless there are what they consider "exceptional circumstances". Would the employer using severe delaying tactics count as exceptional circumstances?