Minimum wage and employer gone bust

[imd123]

My son has called the minimum wage office in as he has been clearly underpaid. He has been interviewed and now his employer has gone bust before his employer could be interviewed. Assuming the money can't be extracted from the employer as i'm sure it can't is there a government dept which can compensate? Also he is owed 2 weeks wages and his last pay cheque bounced.

Unsure if his employer was sole trader or limited company. He had a restaurant and pay cheque had
his name
trading as (restaurant name) on it.
Is there a way to tell.

CAB have been no help nor tax office or benefits office.

Unsure what to do now.

Very grateful to any replies.

[cesdlv]

Sorry to hear of this, imd123. I recall your earlier posting, and your son really has come up against the nastier realities of work in 21st century Britain.

The earlier advice you got from Buenchico and Themas remains valid. I don't think your son has much chance of recovering from his former employer.

But you do not mention following up advice to contact ACAS, who should definitely be able to help. You can get contact details of the nearest office from the internet. They can also tell you about the government's Insolvency Fund, now run by the DTI. This agency will not advise you, but will pay out for work done but not paid for (the bounced cheque), for pay in lieu of statutory notice and for any statutory redundancy pay that would have been due; it then tries to recover the money from the employer, but that is not your problem.

Where I am less certain is whether those payments would be made at the actual hourly rate or the relevant (to your son's age) national minimum wage rate. Logically it should be the latter, but I am not sure.

Good luck, and try to make sure that your son's next job is in a union-organised job.

[imd123]

Thanks resdlv
Yes, have contacted acas and have now send out letter of grievence to employer. Have to wait 28 days. Finding it complicated and hard to follow advice over the phone. Wish they had a local office where you could get advice!