The Carillion group was facing serious financial difficulties from no later than July 2017 and went into liquidation on 15 January 2018. The liquidation resulted in the Claimants being dismissed on various dates after 15 January 2018. The Claimants issued claims for protective awards under section 189 TULRCA in respect of the Respondents' failure to comply with the requirements of section 188 TULRCA to consult with representatives about proposals to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at an establishment within a period of 90 days or less. The Respondents contended that there were “special circumstances” within the meaning of section 188(7) TULRCA that meant that the Respondents were only required to take all such steps towards compliance as were reasonably practicable in those circumstance. The ET rejected that contention. The Respondents appealed.

The EAT dismissed the appeal. The ET had not erred in concluding that there were no special circumstances here, and was correct to follow Court of Appeal authority (Clarks of Hove Ltd v Bakers’ Union [1978] 1 WLR 1207) that “special” in this context, meant something uncommon or out of the ordinary.