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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what legislative plans his Department has to protect workers employed by a contractor which either (a) ceases trading or (b) absconds; and if he will make a statement.

The Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service can make statutory redundancy payments to the former employees of an employer that is unwilling or unable to make these payments. This would include an employer that ceases trading or absconds.

The Department has no legislative plans to extend this protection.