Spoken to Prosperity4 Administrators

[Bigbird]

Can I just check with you P4 lot (cos I don't have a lot of experience with brollies) that you are bona-fide employees of P4 with proper contracts of employment etc? if so it might not be in your interests to cut and run just yet, as your wages and holiday (to a certain value) are safe. Under the Employment Protection Act 1975 (possibly as amended by the Employment Rights Act 1996) if you are dismissed by an employer because they have become insolvent you are entitled to payments of certain debts (within limits) owed to you by an employer who is formally insolvent, as defined in the legislation, from the National Insurance Fund.

These debts include:

- arrears of pay for a period of at least one week but not exceeding 8 weeks in all
- holiday pay for up to six weeks
- compensation for the employer's failure to give them proper statutory entitlement to notice, and
- any basic award of compensation for unfair dismissal.

'Pay' includes commission, overtime and bonus payments if these are contractual payments; guarantee payments; statutory payments for time off work or suspension on medical or maternity grounds; and any protective award made by an employment tribunal because the employer failed to inform or consult the employee's representative about a collective redundancy.

Part of that cut and pasted from the ACAS website : http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1141

[jenwaller]

But

BUt P4 are not insolvent they just went into administration. I'm not a guru but I now from the Leeds UTD episode that players and employee stand to lose if the team goes from administartion into bankrupcy..... and correct me if I'm wrong but didnt Windy have a similar experience with Futuro????

[WindyAnna]

Yep we are employees BUT the question is what constitutes arrears of pay ...

When Futuro went under we didn't get paid by the agency and P4 were adamant that they were under no obligation to pay us (I disputed this as it didn't mention that in my contract but didn't get anywhere). The pay we get is "bonuses" but I am not sure where and if that is contractually stated, i.e. we don't have a written down salary anywhere. I suspect that if they go to the wall then the amount we will be paid out will be very different from what we would have got had they continued to trade.

If we are entitled to it then we get it or not even if we jump ship now, they will still owe us the money, if they pay up then we can still claim - will just take a while.

Windy

[Bigbird]

Whilst in administration they would be expected to trade as normal, ie pay all bills (including wages) on time. Some administrations actually require the opening of a seperate bank account by the administrator(s) to ensure that this happens, only money due to the company in administration is paid into it and only debts incurred during the administration are paid out.

Should they not trade through this, resulting in them becoming insolvent, then payments due to employees are covered by the EPA.

[Bigbird]

If we are entitled to it then we get it or not even if we jump ship now, they will still owe us the money, if they pay up then we can still claim - will just take a while.

No, cos as jenwaller has just pointed out they are not yet insolvent........

[Bigbird]

When Futuro went under we didn't get paid by the agency and P4 were adamant that they were under no obligation to pay us

Neither you nor P4 were employees of Futuro though, you were just ordinary creditors.

[Bigbird]

Yep we are employees BUT the question is what constitutes arrears of pay ...

You are absolutely right Windy. Further digging reveals that there are of course limits to this could-have-been-useful bit of legislation, and pay appears to be capped at £310 per week - probably less than most of you are on per day I expect.

In fact please ignore what I said before and RUN! RUN LIKE THE WIND!!

[richard-af]

No, cos as jenwaller has just pointed out they are not yet insolvent........

The key word: Yet.

[scooby]

the administrators have just told me that they now own the bank accounts, and the incoming money will be paid by them.

still have no confidence or trust, and am already looking at cancelling invoices just waiting for P4 to respond.

[WindyAnna]

Neither you nor P4 were employees of Futuro though, you were just ordinary creditors.

Yeah I know, was just using that as an indication of what my "salary" would be considered to be if they folded - i.e. stuff all!

Windy