A “significant backlog” at the government’s Redundancy Payments Office (RPO) has caused a delay in distributing money owed to vInspired’s creditors, the liquidators' report has said.
The youth volunteering charity collapsed in 2018, owing over £500,000 to creditors, including £36,000 relating to arrears of pay and holiday pay as well as £8,000 for unpaid pension costs.
This week the liquidators, William Batty and Hugh Jesseman of Antony Batty & Company LLP, filed a progress update, detailing their activity in the year to 26 November 2019.
The report says that the liquidators helped the 26 former employees file claims with the RPO and supplied supporting documentation.
“Unfortunately, due to a significant backlog at the RPO, exacerbated by system changes, the RPO’s claim was only received in late December 2019. I have queried certain calculations with the RPO and am awaiting their reply in order to finalise the distribution to employees,” the report says.
When companies go into liquidation, former employees can claim redundancy pay from the RPO instead of the employer, which then lodges a claim against the company.
Because the employees are preferential creditors, this work needs to be completed before other funds can be released.
The report says the liquidation is expected to be finalised within six months.
Claims from the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief
The report adds that the liquidators received claims from the Big Lottery Fund (now the National Lottery Community Fund) and Comic Relief for £478,460 and £65,000 respectively.
However, it says the liquidators successfully persuaded the Big Lottery Fund to drop its claim and Comic Relief to reduce its to £46,000 after supplying the funders with further information.
Website and intellectual property
The liquidators report that they received one offer for vInspired’s website and intellectual property of £10,000 plus VAT, which they accepted.
They have sold furniture and IT equipment for £6,000.
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