Made.com staff take legal action after being made redundant on Zoom

Staff have instructed Aticus Law to pursue a Protective Award claim against the online retailer. If successful, the former employees would receive up to eight weeks’ pay in compensation. 

According to administrators PwC, 399 job losses were set to come from Made.com’s collapse, with an expected 300 as redundancies.

Earlier this week, it was announced that high street giant Next will acquire the brand, domain names and intellectual property of Made for £3.4m.  

Aticus Law said staff were told on a Zoom call that some of them would be retained to “help with the transition”, while others were being let go with immediate effect and would not need to work their notice but would receive pay for that period.

Aticus Law employment law specialist Mohammed Balal said: “Despite the concerns raised about the rights of employees to fair consultation over redundancies, it would appear that the employees at Made.com are the latest to be let go with immediate effect as their employer enters into administration.

“Given that the brand has been bought but not all of the people will be retained, many staff members will have had their lives turned upside down and they are no doubt feeling anxious and concerned about the future. While many people think that as the business has collapsed there is nothing that can be done, those affected actually have the right to hold the company accountable. Under current employment law, if a business is making more than 20 employees redundant at one establishment, they must follow the correct consultation process.”

Aticus said it has been approached by a dozen former Made employees for representation but it was expecting “a significant number of calls over the coming days” from clients seeking to take legal action. 

Made chief executive Nicola Thompson issued an apology to everyone associated with the business and insisted the leadership team had “fought tooth and nail” to put it on a firmer financial footing. 

She said: “I would like to sincerely apologise to everyone – customers, employees, supplier partners, shareholders and all other stakeholders – impacted as a result of the business going into administration. 

“Over the past months, we have fought tooth and nail to rapidly resize the cost base, re-engineer the sourcing and stock model, and try every possible avenue to raise fresh financing and avoid this outcome. 

“Made is a much-loved brand that was highly successful and well adapted, over many years, to a world of low inflation, stable consumer demand, reliable and cost-efficient global supply chains, and limited geopolitical volatility. That world vanished, the business could not survive in its current iteration and we could not pivot fast enough.”