Figures of individual awards which former employees of a failed Essex charity are entitled to have been published following an employment tribunal which was reconsidered in August.

The PARC (Essex) charity, which provided respite care for families of children with additional needs who often exhibited challenging behaviour in the region, was closed in 2022 after it was found that tens of thousands of pounds could not be accounted for after Essex County Council (ECC) withdrew its funding from the service.

The reparations owed to the 21 former staff members involved now range from hundreds of pounds up to almost £23,000, after claims were reconsidered by an employment judge for reasons including unfair dismissal, unpaid holiday wages, breaches of contract and redundancy payments.

All employees were told that they were no longer employed and would not be paid when the service announced its closure in June 2022. The tribunal heard how no dismissal notices were issued, nor did any staff members receive a P45, which is the tax statement issued once someone’s employment ceases.

In June this year, former employee Amanda Stewart made a number of requests for reconsideration in order to secure a fair outcome for her cohort of colleagues.

Within this, she requested on behalf of herself and fellow claimant Suzanne Dodge for their respective protective awards for failure to consult (in relation to periods of continuous service) be reconsidered at the latest hearing heard at the East London. After the original hearing, Ms Stewart received a nil protective award, and Ms Dodge received a lower payment compared to a number of colleagues who had completed shorter periods of continuous service than herself. All individual awards were reconsidered, which saw an increase across the board.

It was ruled that a fellow claimant is entitled to an award of £21,936.61 for, in addition to unfair dismissal and redundancy pay, unpaid wages and outstanding maternity payments.

At the original hearing, former chief executive of PARC Chris McCann confirmed that the charity had lost its funding and that its entire workforce had been made redundant. He told the tribunal that the charity had been placed into voluntary liquidation and that he would not be challenging former staff members’ claims.

Despite this, no claimant has received the award to which they are entitled, as the charity has not yet officially been placed into liquidation as McCann claimed in court it would be. Two former employees told LDRS that they are not confident any one of their cohort will see their award materialise, and that if on the contrary it does, there is “very little chance” that they will receive their entitlement in full.

In 2022 it was disclosed that at least £64,000 of funding provided to PARC by ECC could not be matched to services which it had been intended for. However, there is no evidence to suggest wrongdoing or that this money was misappropriated. Instead, Mr McCann and PARC’s trustees wrote in a letter to parents and staff members that a “counting anomaly” had been discovered, but did not provide further details.

A spokesperson for ECC previously said on the case: “Following PARC’s closure, the council and some of its providers worked quickly to ensure there was alternative provision for the 140 families impacted.”

These alternative provisions were said to be “received well” by young people using the services and their families.

ECC declined to respond to LDRS’ request for comment.