Many will recall that former City Link workers were successful in proving that City Link failed in its statutory duty to consult with them about impending redundancies. The Employment Tribunal (ET) has now ordered that those employees should receive maximum protective awards of 90 days' pay per employee.

In November 2015, there was a failed attempt by BIS to prosecute the three ex-directors of City Link under section 194 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. BIS brought the prosecution based on an allegation that City Link had failed to give enough notice for redundancy plans. City Link went into administration on 24 December 2014. Over 2,000 employees lost jobs. BIS said the directors must reasonably have been aware that redundancies were unavoidable on 22 December 2014. However, City Link did not provide notice to the Secretary of State then. The administrator lodged the notice on 26 December 2014. The prosecution was not successful due to a finding that City Link did not form a redundancy proposal on 22 December 2014. At that time there was every hope of saving the company and its workforce, by placing the company into administration.

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