News story

Palmer and Harvey in administration - how to claim redundancy or register as a creditor

The Palmer & Harvey McLane Limited group of companies entered into administration on 28 November 2017.

The following companies are involved in the administration:

  • Palmer & Harvey (Holdings) PLC
  • Palmer & Harvey McLane Limited
  • Palmer & Harvey McLane (Holdings) Limited
  • P&H (1925) Limited
  • P&H Direct Van Sales Limited
  • P&H Sweetdirect Limited
  • P&H Direct Limited
  • P&H Snacksdirect Limited

Matthew Callaghan, Ian Green and Zelf Hussein of PwC have been appointed joint administrators of the companies.

Information for former employees:

If you’ve been dismissed

If you’ve been dismissed, you might be entitled to redundancy and other related payments from the Insolvency Service.

Who is eligible

You can to apply to the Insolvency Service for redundancy and other payments if:

  • you worked for these companies under an employment contract
  • you live in England, Scotland or Wales

You can’t apply to the Insolvency Service if you live in Northern Ireland. Find out about your rights in Northern Ireland if your employer is insolvent.

Workers and self-employed contractors who provided services to the company are not eligible to apply. Instead, these individuals should contact the administrator to register as creditors.

How to apply

The administrator will give details about how to apply and will also give you a case reference number (eg CN12345678).

Once you have this information you can apply online.

Paying your claim

Once you submit your online application, it takes us an average of 14 days to process your application and pay claims.

However, sometimes we need to get additional information from you or from the administrator. This can take a bit of time.

We’ll contact you directly if we need anything from you.

We always try to pay eligible claims within 6 weeks of receiving the application.

Please don’t contact us to check the status of your application until after the 6 weeks have passed. This will help us deal with everyone’s application as quickly as possible.

Getting help with your application for redundancy payments

If you need help completing your application, you can contact the Redundancy Payments helpline on 0330 331 0020.

When calling, please have your case reference number (eg CN12345678) and National Insurance number to hand. If you do not have a case reference number, please contact the administrator.

We are experiencing higher than usual call volumes at the moment. If you are unable to get through to us you can email redundancypaymentsonline@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk with “ Palmer & Harvey McLane Limited Employee” in the subject line, and we will call you back.

Please include your name, your case reference number and your telephone number in your email.

If you need to email us after submitting your claim, please only use the email address you gave on your application form. Otherwise, we won’t be able to respond to you for security reasons. Other support available to you

Factsheet: finding a new job, managing your finances and benefits available to you (PDF, 487 KB, 2 pages)

Information for creditors

You’ll need to register as a creditor in the administration if:

  • you haven’t been paid for goods or services you’ve supplied to the Palmer & Harvey McLane Limited group of companies
  • you’ve have paid the companies for goods or services that you haven’t received

To register, email the administrators.

In your email, please include your company details and what you’re owed.

Further information

If you have any further questions, you can also contact the Insolvency Enquiry Line:

Insolvency Service helpline

Contact form http://www.insolvencyd...

Insolvency Service helpline 0300 678 0015

Please only attend our offices if you have an appointment.

For information about the insolvency process contact the Insolvency Service helpline. The helpline is open 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, and 9am to 3pm on Friday.

We can give you information about processes administered or regulated by the Insolvency Service. This includes bankruptcy, debt relief orders and company liquidations.

We cannot give you: legal or financial advice, information on specific insolvency cases, information or advice about other government departments or information about redundancy payments.

If you are contacting about an existing bankruptcy or compulsory company liquidation case, use our ‘contact an official receiver’ guidance.

Updates to this page

Published 29 November 2017