Theatre workers who found out they'd been made redundant when a press release was posted on Facebook have each been paid 90 days’ pay in compensation.

Employees of the Southport Theatre and Convention Centre lost their jobs without notice when the firm running the theatre, Bliss Space, announced it was voluntarily entering administration during the first lockdown in May.

Staff had been placed on furlough in March but were not then consulted on the redundancy, instead learning the news from an announcement late on a Friday afternoon via the Facebook Workplace app used to share staff messages. Those who didn’t use the app had to be told by their now ex-colleagues.

Bliss Space said last year that the “devastating” trading conditions left them with no choice other than to place the company into liquidation.

However, the notice of closure came out of the blue to the staff members, who submitted claims to an Employment Tribunal over the employer’s failure to consult them. The Tribunal found in favour of the claimants, on the basis that any employer is legally obligated to consult with the union or workplace representatives when making 20 or more redundancies over a 90-day period.

As a result of the lack of consultation, the judge awarded the maximum compensation of 90 days’ pay to each employee.

Vinny Whalley, Technical Supervisor at the theatre, was one of the lead claimants in the case. He said:

“It offers each of us some justice and relief for the stress and worry we’ve all experienced in the last seven months since the liquidation and sudden loss of all our jobs, which we all had a very deep and long-standing commitment to.”