Information for former employees

If you’ve been dismissed

If you’ve been dismissed, you might be entitled to redundancy pay, holiday pay and statutory notice pay from the Insolvency Service.

The amount the Insolvency Service can pay you will be subject to certain legal limits. Information about the legal limits is available.

Other money you’re owed will be paid to you automatically through the company’s payroll. This includes salary, wages, or overtime you’re owed.

Who is eligible

You can to apply to the Insolvency Service for redundancy pay, holiday pay and statutory notice pay if:

If you live in Northern Ireland you will need to make you application through The Department for the Economy. Find out about your rights in Northern Ireland if your employer is insolvent.

Workers and self-employed contractors who provided services to the company are not eligible to apply. Instead, these individuals should contact the administrator to register as creditors.

How to apply

The Administrator will give details about how to apply and will also give you a case reference number (eg CN12345678).

Once you have this information you can apply online.

Paying your claim

Once you submit your online application, it takes us an average of 14 days to process your application and pay claims.

However, sometimes we need to get additional information from you or from the administrator. This can take a bit of time.

We’ll contact you directly if we need anything from you.

We always try to pay eligible claims within 6 weeks of receiving the application.

Getting help

If you have questions about your situation or about any wages, salary, or overtime you’re owed, you can contact the administrator by:

• phone: 020 7303 3399
• Email

If you need help completing your application, you can contact the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments helpline on 0330 331 0020.

When calling, please have your case reference number (eg CN12345678) and National Insurance number to hand. If you do not have a case reference number, please contact the administrator.

If you need to email us after submitting your claim, please only use the email address you gave on your application form. Otherwise, we won’t be able to respond to you for security reasons.

Other support available to you

JobCentre Plus, through its Rapid Response Service, is ready to support any employee affected by this announcement.

Support could include:

• helping people facing redundancy to write CVs and find jobs
• providing general information about benefits
• helping people to find the right training and learn new skills
• helping with costs like travel to work expenses.

In Scotland, redundancy support is provided through the Scottish Government’s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) – there is more information on the Skills Development Scotland website.

In Wales, the service is delivered by the ReAct scheme.

In Northern Ireland, for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Income Support, contact your Jobs and Benefits office. For Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), contact the ESA Centre.

Contact Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) for help and advice on dealing with redundancy.

Anyone worried about their pension situation can ring The Pension Advisory Service (TPAS) on 0300 123 1047 for free and impartial guidance.

Factsheet: finding a new job, managing your finances and benefits available to you.

Information for creditors

You’ll need to register as a creditor in the administration if:

• you haven’t been paid for goods or services you’ve supplied to Poundworld
• you’ve paid Poundworld for goods or services that you haven’t received

Information about how to register as a creditor can be found on the administrator’s website.

If you have any questions, you can contact the Insolvency Enquiry Line.

The Insolvency Enquiry Line can give you general information about:

• insolvency
• redundancy
• what redundancy payments offices do
• where you can go to get the information or advice you need

A man who attempted to violently rob a vulnerable family friend has today had his sentence increased after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, referred his sentence for being too low.

The victim let Bernie Ward, 32, into his home in January and the two had a conversation before Ward began punching the victim in the face and threatening him with a knife. The victim suffered a stab-wound to the arm, bleeding on the brain which led to an uncommon form of stroke, and serious bruising and cuts.

Ward was originally sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court in April, where he received 3 years 4 months’ imprisonment. Today, after the Solicitor General’s referral, the Court of Appeal increased his sentence to 6 years 8 months.

Commenting on the sentence increase, the Solicitor General said:

Ward targeted a victim he knew to be vulnerable and subjected him to a brutal attack in his own home. I hope that the Court of Appeal’s decision today sends a clear message to anyone despicable enough to consider abusing a vulnerable member of their community – you will not escape justice.

The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has today [22 June] unveiled an ambitious plan to bring together all of the Government’s international oceans work under a single strategy for the first time.

The Government will agree and implement a new oceans strategy, under the aegis of the FCO, which will cover work from departments including Defra, BEIS, DfT and DIT. The strategy will be developed over the coming months. Responding to the recommendation from the Government Chief Scientific Adviser to develop a more strategic approach to marine and maritime policy, it will provide a blueprint for international action by HMG towards the oceans that supports the long-term prosperity of the UK and the long-term health of the marine environment.

Speaking on a visit to the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), the Foreign Secretary said:

Britain has a proud and ancient maritime history, but our commitment to the oceans must be enshrined in our future. Today in Southampton I’ve heard from world-leading UK experts on marine protection, and what more the UK can do to help.

We need to improve and energise international ocean governance to protect the world’s seas and their ecosystems, to keep our people and goods safe, and to support sustainable economic growth, as well as to deliver our ambitious environmental commitments. Utilising expertise across government, Britain will stay at the leading edge of international marine excellence.

At the NOC, the Foreign Secretary met scientists working on Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded marine protection programmes, including the flagship Blue Belt programme, which will protect over four million square kilometres of British waters by 2020.

The Foreign Secretary’s visit builds on commitments made during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London in April, where the FCO announced additional funding for the Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme and a number of Government commitments to reduce the amount of plastic waste entering the oceans.

Notes to editors

• The Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme is a £23 million programme over 4 years (from 2016) to assist Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean to develop maritime economy plans for sustainable economic growth and prosperity.

• The Government Office for Science issued a Foresight report on 21 March 2018 entitled ‘Future of the Sea’, which sets out the important role that the oceans play in the life of the UK and its Overseas Territories. It highlighted an opportunity for the UK to develop a “thriving 21st Century marine and maritime economy and leading the global response to environmental change.”

• The Blue Belt programme aims to deliver demonstrable increases in the protection of marine biodiversity across the combined maritime zones of the UK and the UK Overseas Territories, taking into account local views and supporting the development of sustainable economies. The Blue Belt programme is on course to deliver over 4 million square kilometres of protected ocean around the UKOTs by 2020, with funding of up to £20m to support scientific assessment, implementation, management, monitoring and surveillance of these areas.

Further information