Hi everyone,

I'm in a strange situation and I can't find anyone else in a similar scenario to know what to do....

I've been working in an IT company for 15 years and we were all told last week that the company is insolvent and will be going into liquidation somewhere between 11-22 May.

As the company was closing and it has no money, we were told to leave on the 30/4 and that we'd have to claim redundancy and the notice period through the RPO.

However, I've since been told by the owner / MD that he has had a company which he registered at the end of last year that he's going to start trading with, (another IT company) and he told me that in a few weeks, he might be able to offer me a position doing a variety of jobs - sales, purchasing and support etc to see if he can 'make a go of the new company'.

What I'm really concerned about is that if I take him up on the offer, will I lose my redundancy?

Basically, I can't afford to lose this as I need it to live on until I find another job and being statutory, it's not going to last very long. I'm worried that if I accept, it'll be seen as employment with the same employer.

Does anyone know how this works? If the company I worked for is insolvent and closed, but I start working for a different company, (but run by the same physical person), do I get to keep my redundancy, or do I lose it and then end up losing my 15 years service because the employment was broken and restarted?

I'd be really grateful if anyone can help because I'm at a real loss. The only thing I found was an article that mentioned something about working for the employer or associated employer within a month of the contract finishing would cause me to lose the redundancy. By employer, do they mean the original company or the person and what constitutes the end of the contract - is that at the end of the notice period (15 weeks for 15 years work) or does it mean the last day I worked, which was last week.

Thanks for any help you can offer!