Mr D Bamford v New Foundations Care Homes Ltd: 6020862/2025
JUDGMENT
[1]The claimant’s claim for a redundancy payment is well founded and succeeds. The respondent is ordered to pay £ 952.[2]The claimant complaint for notice pay is well founded and succeeds. The respondent is ordered to pay £ 952.[3]The claimant’s claim for outstanding holiday pay is dismissed on withdrawal.[4]The claimant’s claim for unauthorised deduction from pay, his unpaid wages for February 2025, is well founded and succeeds. The respondent is ordered to pay £ 1551.[5]The total amount the respondent is ordered to pay to the claimant is £ 3455.REASONS
[6]By a claim form dated 5 June 2025 the claimant brought his complaints to the Tribunal. He had an ACAS Certificate 20 April 2025 – 1 June 2025. The 1 of 6 Tribunal acknowledged his claim and served it on the respondent on 28 October 2025 at its registered office address Duke Street postcode L1 5JW.[7]The Tribunal also sent a Notice of Hearing to the respondent at its registered office address on 28 October 2025 for this final hearing. That Notice gave standard directions for the preparation of a file of documents and witness statements for use at this hearing and direction that the respondent must contact the Tribunal to provide email contact details so that a video link to this hearing could be sent.[8]The respondent failed to file a Response by the due date 25 November 2025. It failed to file any other documents or send email details. The Tribunal case file shows no contact whatsoever from the respondent.[9]Ordinarily, the Tribunal will send a letter known as a Response Not Received letter to warn the respondent that as it has not filed a Response it is debarred from defending the proceedings save to the extent permitted by the Judge at the final hearing. Judge Aspinall can find no record of such a letter having been sent on the Tribunal file in this case.[10]The claimant corresponded with the Tribunal to provide his dates of employment and contact details so that the video link could be sent to him.[11]At the start of the final hearing the respondent did not attend. The Tribunal had no way of contacting the respondent by email or telephone. The claimant said he understood the business to have ceased trading in February 2025. He said he thought the company had folded.[12]Judge Aspinall searched the Register at Companies House and checked that the Claim had been sent to the right company at the right address. The Register showed an active company with active director Mr Harold Foster and his address.The hearing
[13]The claimant appeared in person and gave oral evidence on oath and provided by email copies of payslips.[14]The respondent failed to attend.[15]The Tribunal saw a payslip from October 2022 showing that the claimant was employed by the respondent under its former name Building Bridges Care Homes Limited and had been paid by them.[16]The Tribunal saw sample payslips in the respondent’s name for random months in 2023 and 2024 and it saw a final payment for January 2025.Relevant Facts
[17]The claimant was employed from 26 September 2022 as a residential child care officer. He worked 24 hours shifts including sleepovers two or three shifts per week. In February 2025 he was working days to assist in the 2 of 6 preparation of a new home facility to receive residents. He was contacted on 20 February 2025 by Harold Foster and was told that the company was no longer operational and he was being made redundant. He was then 39 years old and had two years and five months service.[18]He earned a gross annual salary of £ 24 825. His week’s gross pay was £476. He was provided with access to payslips through an app. He has retained access to that app. His final payslip and payment was at the end of January 2025.[19]He was not paid his salary in February. He worked three of the four weeks in February. He was not paid notice pay on termination of employment. In later weeks he heard from former colleagues that they had been paid redundancy pay. He was not.[20]He went to ACAS and brought his claim.Relevant Law
[21]The legal entitlement to a redundancy payment is set out in Section 135 Employment Rights Act 1996 and applies to employees with more than two years continuous employment on termination of employment.[22]The right not to suffer unauthorised deductions from wages is in section 13 Employment Rights Act 1996[23]The statutory right to notice pay is in Section 86.[24]Sometimes, awards made by a Tribunal are subject to Recoupment Provisions whereby the state recovers from the respondent the value of certain state benefits paid to the claimant. The principles are contained in the Employment Protection (Recoupment of Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support) Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/2349) Applying the Law[25]I accept the oral evidence of the claimant given on oath of the matters set out in the facts above. I find there was a redundancy situation. The claimant’s dismissal was by reason of redundancy. He had two years service when he was made redundant so I find that he was entitled to a redundancy payment. 39 with a gross week’s pay of £476 so applying the statutory formula he is entitled to 2 x 1 x £ 476 = £ 952 Recoupment provisions do not apply to redundancy pay.[26]The claimant was due outstanding wages for February. I find that the wages paid to him, ie none, were less than the wages properly payable to him and I award the wages as an unauthorised deduction from his pay. He is due 3 of 6 three week’s pay, a month’s gross pay was £2068, divide that by four and multiply by three to give £ 1551 being the unpaid wages due to the claimant for February 2025. Recoupment provisions do not apply to unlawful deductions complaints.[27]The claimant was due notice pay. He had worked 2 complete years so was entitled to two weeks’ notice. That notice was not given, in breach of his contract of employment so he is awarded two week’s pay = £ 952 Recoupment provisions do not apply to notice pay. Respondent’s position[28]Given the non attendance of the Resopndent and its failure to file a Response I considered whether or not to proceed in its absence. I decided, the claim having been validly served on a live company that remains live and having regard to the overriding objective and seeking to avoid delay and use judicial resource proportionately, to proceed to hear the case in its absence.[29]The respondent will be served with a copy of this Judgment and Reasons at its registered office address and I have also given direction that it be copied to Mr Harold Foster an active director at the address given for him at Companies House. The Judgment will be served with accompanying information about reconsideration and appeal. This judgment has been approved for promulgation by