Purplebricks given six days to deal with £8.7 million claim or face High Court

Group action claimants represented by Contractors for Justice want their holiday pay, car allowance and pension contributions they say is due to them.

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Legal group Contractors for Justice (C4J) has given outgoing Purplebricks CEO Helena Marston six days to begin settlement talks over its £8.5 million claim on behalf of 192 former self-employed staff of the troubled agency.

C4J began its group litigation claim in October 2021, arguing that Purplebricks had failed to pay the claimants holiday pay, car allowances and pension contributions whilst self-employed.

It now says that, unless Marston engages with its lawyer, it will move to begin proceedings in the High Court.

Spokesperson Russell Quirk says: “The contention is that these self-employed claimants were employed in the eyes of the law. Failing this, C4J will be issuing proceedings in the High Court from midday on 1st June.”

The ‘ramped up’ litigation actions by C4J is the latest episode in the ongoing and sorry saga of the hybrid agency, which brought all its self-employed teams in-house in August 2021.

Fiasco

As well as a rental property deposits fiasco in December of that year, earlier this year a leading expert claimed Purplebricks had hit ‘saturation point’ within the UK, after which the company’s fortunes began in slide – and on 17th May the firm’s directors revealed that they expected the firm to be sold to Strike for £1 pending shareholder approval.

But this sale has also been questioned by C4J as it seeks buy time for its legal action to proceed.

Russesll Quirk - emoov - imageQuirk (pictured) says C4J has written to the City takeover panel to claims that Strike’s insistence a few weeks ago that it would not be bidding for Purplebricks means it cannot now buy the firm for six months under rule 2.8 of the Takeover Code.

“This is a real double blow for Purplebricks as it continues to wriggle quite helplessly on the hook’ adds Russell Quirk.

The Negotiator has approached Purplebricks and Strike for comment.


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