Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the extent of the practice of insolvent companies failing to pay redundancy payments to staff they have dismissed.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has made the relevant statutory payments from the National Insurance Fund under the provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 to the former employees of insolvent employers, as listed below:

In the year 2016 – 2017

Number of claims from employees received: 63,589

Number of insolvent cases: 6,994

Total amount paid: £250,846,496

Of which were:

Redundancy, arrears of pay and holiday pay: £179,898,774

Compensatory Notice Pay: £46,955,219

Protective Awards: £20,333,935

Pension payments: £3,933,676

For the year to date (up until end of December 2017)

Number of claims from employees received: 45,784

Number of insolvent cases: 4,940

Total amount paid: £187,577,458

Of which were:

Redundancy, arrears of pay and holiday pay: £140,026,948

Compensatory Notice Pay: £33,697,391

Protective Awards: £12,931,388

Pension payments: £2,992,746