When Justice Falls Flat: The Harrowing Struggle to Collect Employment Tribunal Awards

Nadine Fallone faced a long and frustrating road after being awarded nearly £65,000 by an employment tribunal for unfair treatment and dismissal due to reporting drug use at her workplace. Despite the court ruling in her favor, she has yet to receive any payment, a situation echoed by many others as nearly 75% of claimants using the government scheme to enforce tribunal payments remain unpaid.

Following her judgment, the company, Peckham Levels Ltd, went into administration, leaving Nadine with no feasible way to recover her award. She described the tribunal experience as a distressing ordeal, highlighting the disappointment of being acknowledged by the judge but not receiving the owed compensation. The former director of the company, Preston Benson, lamented the situation yet stated his inability to pay once the firm entered administration.

An investigation by the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed that out of 7,000 claims made under the Employment Tribunal Penalty Enforcement and Naming Scheme, over 5,000 claimants still await their payments. Despite the issuance of thousands of penalty notices, most remain unfulfilled, and employers are rarely named for non-payment.

Rosie Davies, another claimant who was awarded £6,000 in unpaid wages, similarly reported financial struggles following her tribunal experience. Despite evidence supporting her claim, her employer, Christian Elvidge, claimed insolvency, leaving Rosie without the funds awarded to her.

Overall, Citizens Advice criticized the tribunal system as being fundamentally broken, with 491,000 claims still open as of March 2025. They advocate for significant reforms, as many business closures and insolvencies in the aftermath of the pandemic have exacerbated the issue of unpaid awards.

With calls for a potential central UK pot to support those affected when companies become insolvent, government officials assert that efforts to improve the enforcement of payment are forthcoming. However, for Nadine, Rosie, and countless others, the promise of justice remains unfulfilled, casting a shadow over the entire employment tribunal system.