{"id":72030,"date":"2025-05-03T20:20:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T20:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/72030\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T20:20:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T20:20:11","slug":"employment-solicitor-welcomes-great-benefit-of-protective-award-rules-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/72030\/","title":{"rendered":"Employment solicitor welcomes \u2018great benefit\u2019 of Protective Award Rules changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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AN OLDHAM-BASED solicitor believes significant changes to protective awards claims in the Employment Bill will be a \u2018great benefit\u2019 to those facing redundancy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alan Lewis, a partner at Pearson Solicitors and Financial Advisers and a specialist employment law solicitor, has long championed the rights of employees and helped thousands secure protective awards after being made redundant.<\/p>\n

He has welcomed the recent significant change in the maximum compensation employment tribunals can award in protective award claims.<\/p>\n

\"\"Alan Lewis<\/p>\n

On March 4, 2025, the Government announced plans to increase the maximum protective award from 90 days to 180 days.<\/p>\n

Mr Lewis stated: \u201cThis potential doubling of the award is a great benefit to those facing redundancy where 20 or more employees are being made redundant at the same establishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will also act as a greater deterrent to those unscrupulous employers who deliberately flout the rules on collective redundancies.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, just two days later, the Government announced it would shelve a separate proposal to strengthen workers\u2019 rights in collective redundancy situations.<\/p>\n

Initially, the proposed legislation aimed to make it easier for employees affected by a multi-site redundancy exercise to claim a protective award. Many businesses have made mass redundancies across different locations, but most affected employees have been unable to pursue claims due to the 20-employee threshold applying only to individual sites. The scrapped proposal would have removed this obstacle, offering greater protection to workers.<\/p>\n

Employers had raised concerns that this legislative change could inadvertently expose them to breaches if small numbers of redundancies occurred across different sites in a 90-day period.<\/p>\n

Mr Lewis continued: \u201cIt seems to me that the Government has thrown the baby out with the bathwater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many cases where an employer will be planning large-scale redundancies across multiple sites, and they will be fully aware of the total numbers from day one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a far greater concern for thousands of employees than the relatively small risk of an employer accidentally exceeding the 20-employee threshold.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarger employers, in particular, have HR and data systems that should easily identify and manage this risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports suggest the Government may introduce further legislation allowing employees to aggregate redundancies across different locations in certain circumstances. However, no further details have been provided at this stage.<\/p>\n