Union Unite is taking legal action on behalf of a group of former Carillion workers who were dismissed without consultation following the industry firm's collapse in January.

The 80-strong team were employed by Carillion's group company, Planned Maintenance Engineering Limited, on a contract at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Following Carillion's collapse on 15 January, the workforce was informed on 23 January by liquidators PWC that they faced redundancy, that there was no recognised union and they would be organising the election of employee reps to consult on the proposed redundancies.

Unite said the workers were then dismissed on 06 February without consultation and told to claim their redundancy pay from the government's redundancy payments office. The workers were then taken on by G4S.

However, as their section of Carillion was in compulsory liquidation, the normal Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations did not apply so the workers' employment and terms and conditions weren't protected..

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In early June, Unite Legal Services lodged a claim on behalf of its members for a failure to comply with the legal obligation to carry out collective consultation before making members redundant. As the company was in compulsory liquidation, Unite has had to apply to the court in order for the claim to proceed and the union is currently awaiting a response from the Official Receiver .

The claim is against the Carillion employing company, however the tribunal judge has also added in the Secretary of State of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as an additional respondent to the claim as it is , the Insolvency Service which will have to pay the members.

If successful, the workers can each be awarded up to 90 days' pay, however as Carillion is in liquidation this would be paid by the Insolvency Service in the form of unpaid wages and would be capped at eight weeks and a maximum weekly amount of £489. It remains unclear whether Carillion/PWC will seek to defend the claim, which will simply increase their legal bills and further reduce the amount of money Carillion's creditors will receive.

Unite assistant general secretary for legal services, Howard Beckett, said: "Unite is fulfilling its promise of using all avenues including its legal arm to defend our members who are the innocent victims of Carillion's collapse.

"The complexity of this case, which combines employment law rights and draconian insolvency law requirements, demonstrates why workers need to be part of a union, it would have been simply impossible for individual workers to pursue such a case.

"If our members are successful then once again it is the taxpayers who are going to have to pick up the bill for Carillion's failings. This again underlines that the outsourcing model is broken beyond repair and needs to be scrapped."

(LM)