Made "redundant" from apprenticeship. What next?

[Wickeddevil]

Hi I would be grateful for some good advice.

DS was told on Friday that he was bring made redundant from his role as an apprentice technician. He has been with the company for 18 months and his college course has another 6 months to run.

He was verbally informed of the"redundancy" at 4.30 on Friday pm. There was no consultation and he was not given written notice of redundancy or a p45. Fwiw the company has not had enough orders for so e time and I would imagine is in a poor financial position.

From brief googling, I understand that this is not what should have happened, but it has, and so my question is what next?

He would like to continue his course and his college has offered to help him find another placement. My concern is what if he doesn't get another placement, or it is delayed. Is he entitled to claim any form of unemployment support?

Also his manager was not available for him to speak to today and so he has emailed to request P45, final paycheck and a reference. Is there anything else he could / should do?

Thank you for reading

Is he still working at all? I don't know anything about the specific course but if so it's worth seeing if the tutor can observe all the practical elements ASAP as then he should be able to complete the other parts after. If he wasn't given notice that's no help, sorry! A voluntary placement for the purposes of the observations might be possible though.

Thanks Jennifer, no he isn't working at all, and is looking for employment to provide income and additional experience, but this has been dropped in his lap so suddenly that he doesn't know where to begin.

I think in an actual job, he would be entitled to some form of pay off and be able apply for benefits while looking for work, but does this apply to apprenticeships?

Also the company he was working for was receiving money on his behalf from the government, so what happens to that?

Of he's an apprentice he should have a contract of emolument, it's part if the paperwork we do with new apprentices, helping they have one. Does he? That should say what his rights are.

Sorry that should be employment and checking not helping

Unfortunately he wasn't ever given a contract of employment. He asked for one (several times), but was always fobbed off. Excuses like oh yes they are with the solicitor now were used. Not sure where that leaves him though?

Another issue that I am wondering about, is that the company has 3 apprentices, yes just DS has been made redundant. Is that right?

I want to say that not having a written contract makes no difference, you still have statutory rights, but I'm not certain. This link has a number to call:
www.gov.uk/apprenticeships-guide/pay-and-holidays

I mean I'm not certain with apprentices, as things like minimum wage are different so other things might be...

Thanks for your help Jenni. I hope you are right about statutory rights and thank you for the link.

I'll ask at work tomorrow too. Good luck, sounds rubbish :(

We have spoken to citizens advice, who asked if he wanted it claim for unfair dismissal. That wasn't my initial thought, as I suspect the company's financial problems are genuine, but now I wonder if we should consider this??? The way it has been handled means that DS won't receive wages this week, but is unable to get other work without a P45.

Looking at other threads here, people seem to advise caution about going to a tribunal, and I would be concerned that the stress and expense of such action, might not be wise, particularly if it were unlikely to lead to a satisfactory conclusion. BUT on the other hand I am angry about the way DS has been treated. Is this worth pursuing?

Did CAB say if normal rights apply in an appreticship? As if so might be worth pointing this out to the employer, in a grievance, as even if you don't want to go to tribunal you might get offered the redundancy pay he should be entitled to.

CAB weren't actually very helpful. The lady we spoke to on the phone was very sarcastic to DS when he admitted that he didn't have a contract. "Oh, you'll learn from that" she said!
Her advice was to look at the CAB pages on the internet, but I can't work out if apprentices have the same rights, as these pages suggest, and I'm struggling to find out where to find the information.

Can the college / training provider not help? They should be able to find out his rights. If he was getting the course free they would want to help keep him in placement as otherwise they don't get paid...

A p45 is not needed to seek work. It's just a statement of tax paid.

Apprenticeships are usually fixed term and if he had been with the employer for under 18 months he has no redundancy payment rights but the process should be handled properly. Unfair dismissal may apply if the company had not followed their own processes for dismissal properly but for a young person with only 18 months service any payout would be minimal and the likelihood of being reinstated are almost nil.

He needs to concentrate on getting a new placement to complete his apprenticeship. He needs to get his cv sorted and ask his college for help. The college will want him to complete his course and the full programme because it's one of their key measures. The employer however has no incentive to do so and does not receive money from government to take on an apprentice.

Best of luck- he needs to show he is resilient and get on with finding a new job or placement.

Gah, zombie thread.