‘I won £65,000 at an employment tribunal – but I haven’t seen a penny’

Nadine Fallone was awarded almost £65,000 by an employment tribunal for unfair therapy and dismissal after reporting workers taking medication on the bar she managed.

However greater than a 12 months later she has not acquired any of the cash – regardless of utilizing a authorities scheme set as much as deal with employment tribunal non-payments.

And he or she’s not alone. Of the 7,000 individuals who have used this scheme, three quarters nonetheless have not had their cost, knowledge revealed as a part of a BBC investigation suggests.

A authorities spokesperson mentioned the system was arrange by its predecessors and “each employee ought to obtain funds they’re owed”.

Nadine advised the BBC that taking the corporate she labored for, Peckham Ranges Ltd, to a tribunal was “most likely the worst expertise of my life”.

Each side advised the BBC they made presents to settle, however the case went to a full listening to and Nadine was awarded £28,750 for detrimental therapy, £35,250 for unfair dismissal plus a compensatory award of £915.

Weeks after the judgement, Peckham Ranges Ltd went into administration, leaving Nadine with no approach to get well her award.

“I’ve misplaced my sense of pleasure,” she says. “Whenever you get advised by a decide that you’ve suffered detriment, and you continue to cannot obtain that cash – it form of makes it worse,” she says.

The previous director of Peckham Ranges, Preston Benson, is presently the director of 12 companies.

In an announcement, he mentioned the misery the case had prompted Nadine was “deeply regrettable”.

Mr Benson identified that he had “no authorized capability” to pay the award as soon as the corporate was in administration.

The Employment Tribunal Penalty Enforcement and Naming Scheme was arrange by the Conservative authorities in 2016, after a 2013 survey of 1,200 claimants discovered that greater than a 3rd hadn’t acquired any cash in any respect.

Beneath the free scheme, corporations face a penalty if they do not pay inside 28 days, and since 2018 they’ll also be named online by the federal government.

However of round 7,000 individuals who have used the scheme, greater than 5,000 didn’t obtain their cost or settlement, knowledge from a Freedom of Data request suggests.

The info signifies that regardless of greater than 4,800 penalties being issued, with a mixed worth of greater than £9m, the federal government solely recorded 109 as being paid.

It additionally suggests not a single employer has up to now been named by the federal government for non-payment, regardless of almost 4,000 requests being made.

The findings are a part of a joint venture with The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Rosie Davies was awarded £6,000 in unpaid wages and breach of contract at an employment tribunal after she misplaced her job in motorsports.

However 18 months later, she says she is “nonetheless ready for a penny of that cash”.

Claimants also can pursue their awards by means of the Excessive Courtroom – however the authorities does not monitor what number of are profitable.

Rosie used each schemes to attempt to get her award from her employer, Christian Elvidge, who runs manufacturing firm Motorflix Ltd.

He employed Rosie by means of a separate agency – Motorflix Media Ltd. She was the one worker.

Mr Elvidge was despatched penalty notices and Excessive Courtroom enforcement officers additionally went to his home. However Rosie says that when Mr Elvidge declared Motorflix Media Ltd had no property, he wasn’t pursued additional.

The corporate remains to be registered, however has but to file any accounts.

In addition to the stress of going by means of the tribunal, Rosie says not getting the cash “tipped issues over the sting” for her funds, and he or she moved again in along with her mum.

“I really feel like I’ve gone again 5 years,” she says. “The life I used to be making for myself I now not have.”

Rosie utilized to have her employer named on-line too – however hasn’t been profitable.

She now needs she “hadn’t bothered” with the tribunal system.

“I believed the justice system would step in and ensure I acquired that cash,” she says.

Christian Elvidge was contacted for remark, however didn’t reply.

Tens of hundreds of employment tribunal instances are launched yearly – though the overwhelming majority are settled, withdrawn or resolved earlier than it will get to a listening to.

491,000 claims had been open in March 2025, in keeping with the Ministry of Justice.

Residents Recommendation mentioned the employment tribunal system was “fully damaged”.

“To have jumped by means of all of these hoops after which have a tribunal award that by no means will get paid is frankly scandalous,” mentioned coverage supervisor Emer Sheehy.

The Federation of Small Companies is amongst these calling for the system to be “overhauled”.

Tribunals might be pricey for companies in addition to workers, mentioned coverage director Tina McKenzie.

“There’s presently greater than a 12 months’s ready listing, and if the federal government brings within the reforms its proposing, it should get so much worse,” she says.

She mentioned the commonest purpose an award from an employment tribunal is not paid is that the corporate turns into bancrupt – one thing she says has been a specific challenge within the post-pandemic years coated by the information.

Individuals who run restricted corporations will not be personally accountable for that firm’s money owed.

The FSB’s Tina McKenzie says it is “not okay” that some individuals miss out on their awards – however argues that she is not shocked when “500,000 enterprise have closed during the last 4 to 5 years”.

She thinks there could possibly be a case for a “central UK pot” that pays out those that are owed a tribunal award when an organization turns into bancrupt.

A authorities spokesperson mentioned: “We recognise it requires enchancment as we intend to strengthen enforcement of unpaid awards as a part of the Plan for Change.”