I’ll try to be as brief as possible whilst giving all relevant info, so please bear with me!

I have worked for the same company for almost 5 years, initially I was employed part time but within a yr was made full time. The company had been downsizing for a couple of years and had gone from a six company outfit down to one company, although the last company had gone into administration and wound up, it continued to operate as always but had added uk ltd to its former company name.

The staff were retained but no employment contracts were given and they used the services of an agency to pay our wages through, having investigated said agency it would appear that it was set up for the sole purpose of administering our wages as the incorporation date and details coincide with the start up of the new company, also I discovered that the company behind the agency is registered to the same address as the accountants used by my employer, I don’t know how relevant that is.

Any way I worked an 8am -5pm day , mon-fri for the past almost five years. We were given 21 days holiday per yr, overtime was compensated by time off in lieu, and sick pay at managers discretion, I was never sick so don’t know how that actually worked. I think that brings us up to date, so I was on annual leave for 10 days and on the final day my boss rang me and said, things have happened Im not sacking you but im gonna have to make you redundant, don’t come in tomorrow!! This method has been employed by her for at least the last 4 employees that I know of!! So I had just been paid my monthly salary and we were at the end of a month. I expected to be paid something the end of August but nothing, when I called I was informed that I was due nothing as I has been sacked?! I tried to clarify this but my calls go to answerphone – any advice would be appreciated.

Just being sacked like that is unfair dismissal, and should be treated accordingly by making a claim to the Employment Tribunal. There are strict deadlines for doing this - have a read of https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunals.

Once a company is wound-up it no longer exists. I imagine you ended up working for a different company but trading under the same name as the original company. All companies have Ltd or Limited after their name, you can't set up a company without the Limited.

The aspect which concerns me is whether the company you worked for will now be wound-up. It may be that the company has run out of money and the boss is desperately trying to reduce costs. You should monitor at the insolvency history on Companies House, so that you are ready to move fast if anything happens. If this company will be going down the insolvency route it is important to claim the money ASAP and make sure that your claim goes in to the administrator/liquidator.

Thank you for that steampowered, since posting I have had a call from the boss saying that she did not sack me, as implied by 3rd party, and did just make me redundant! They also stated that they would pay me any holiday I had left and a weeks wage. This is better than a kick in the teeth but I was hoping for a bit of compensation as no notice blah blah, no the company is not winding up again, they are under contract with a reliable firm.

Thanks for all the info though

Your entitlement would be one week's wages if you have less than two year's continuous service. That is not a redundancy payment; it is just the minimum notice period.

If you have more than two years service you'd be entitled to a redundancy payment. You can find a statutory redundancy pay calculator online. This is more than a week's wages. Given that it sounds like no redundancy procedure was followed the dismissal may in fact also be unfair dismissal.

If they haven't followed the correct redundancy procedure then you have a case for unfair dismissal. Are there any others who do the same job as you? Are they being made redundant? Have you been notified in writing ?

- you can calculate how much redundancy pay you are due here - click the Start Now button and fill in the questions as you go along https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-redundancy-pay

Yes there is one other but he has considerably more knowledge than me so no issue there. No I was never given written notice just literally a phone call on a Sunday night not to come in Monday! The other issue I have is theoretically I am employed by this Temporary employment agency- set up to handle our wages, I would have presumed that they should be the ones notifying me of redundancy and had they been a genuine "employment agency " they would presumably have other positions to offer.

If there is another person doing exactly the same job as you then the company has to go through a selection process to determine which employee should be put at risk - you should also be notified in writing of the situation and how the selection process will be conducted.

It would be worth giving ACAS a call to advise them of the situation.

your employer hasntr followed any redundancy procedure so in essenec you have been summarily dismissed, which is unlwaful givent eh circumstances. As the company seems to be a multiple phoenix company you would be advised to get someone like ACAS to tell you your rights as I would bet that any assets of this company will be quicly passed on or hidden from the liquidators to avoid paying you your dues (and other debts). You may have to use the small claims court to get your money (dont use ET, too expensive and slow) rather sharpish.

I think you should get 5 weeks redundancy money plus any holiday pay still due plus at least a fortnights pay in lieu of notice period and possibly more, depending on your contract or terms of service. you will have a case for claiming ulawful dismissal but if the comapnay has done a runner then it serves very little purpose spending time chasing that