Getting Paid If Your Employer Goes Out Of Business Or “Disappears”
4th February 2025
This general advice applies to England.
There are things you can do to get money your employer owes you. You will need to start by checking whether your employer is actually officially “insolvent” – this means they can’t pay their debts. You can do this for free by checking Companies House.
If the employer is insolvent, you will usually be contacted by an “insolvency practitioner” – administrator – they are the people in charge of your employer’s debts. They should contact employees soon after the employer is made insolvent. You may also be able to find their details on Companies House when you search for the name of your employers. Often employers may trade under different names – looking at the name of your employers on your wage slip will help.
It is a good idea to stay in contact with the people that you have worked with and if you are a member of a trade union you should stay in contact with your representative. This will mean you will be able to share information about the situation.
If the employer is insolvent, you can apply to the Redundancy Payments Service – this is a government service for the monies lost. You can claim:
- up to 8 weeks wages
- pay for any untaken but accrued annual leave
- statutory notice pay
- statutory redundancy pay (only if you have been in employment for 2 years or more).
Unpaid wages include statutory payments you should have been paid, for example statutory sick pay or statutory maternity pay.
The maximum amount you can get for a week’s unpaid wages or annual leave if your employment ended after 6 April 2024 is £700 for each week.
Applying to the Redundancy Payments Service
The insolvency practitioner should have provided a case reference number called a CN number. You will need to use the CN number to claim the money your employer owes you. You should usually get your money within 6 weeks of applying.
Applying for money your employer owes you on gov.uk
If you are entitled to statutory notice pay and your employer didn’t pay it, you need to make a second claim for it. The insolvency practitioner will give you another case reference number called an LN number. They will only give it to you after your notice period should have ended.
If you are still owed money by your employer that you can’t get from the Redundancy Payments Service, the insolvency practitioner should help you register as a creditor which means you might get some money if there is any left when your employer is fully shut down.
With the current economic situation, it would appear that companies will be becoming insolvent and filing for administration more regularly unfortunately.
If your employers are solvent, write to their registered address setting out the details of the payments they owe you. There is a time limit for three months less one day from the date you should have been paid to bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal for unpaid monies.
The first step in bringing a claim is registering a claim notification form with ACAS, (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service). This is a free service and a compulsory step you need to take before you are then able to register a claim with the Employment Tribunal.
Registering your claim with ACAS ‘pauses’ the time limit. ACAS can offer a conciliation service to try and see if they can assist in resolving the dispute, but if that is unsuccessful, they will issue a certificate. Once that certificate is issued the time limit starts to run again, so you will need to calculate the deadline for when you must issue your claim in the Employment Tribunal.
Our specialist Employment Law team advise employees and employers across all occupations and industries, and we would be pleased to assist.
Article written by Employent Solicitor Kerry Hudson