EX-Ena Shaw employees who lost their jobs when the company went into administration are set to take legal action.

Established in 1932, Ena Shaw is a family run business specialising in the manufacture and resale of soft furnishings, employing 167 members of staff.

The company has a factory at Lea Green and a store on Duke Street, St Helens.

The decision to appoint administrators was made by the directors of Ena Shaw after suffering difficult trading conditions.

The news left around 160 employees redundant across the company’s factory in Lea Green and store on Duke Street after directors made the decision due to difficult trading conditions.

Further to the announcement, national law firm Simpson Millar says it has received several calls from affected Ena Shaw employees and has begun investigations to bring legal action to secure a Protective Award over the company’s failure to properly consult staff regarding the mass redundancies.

Stephen Pinder, a specialist employment law Partner at Simpson Millar, said: “This is, understandably, an incredibly difficult period for those affected and many will be trying to understand the news and plan their next steps.

“To date, we have been contacted by multiple former employees who are looking to bring in claims for a Protective Award which would be paid out to those affected by redundancies where they have not properly been consulted.”

Pinder explains that a Protective Award is a payment awarded by an Employment Tribunal in cases where an employer fails to follow the correct procedure when making 20 or more redundancies and, where an Employment Tribunal finds in the favour of the employees, they will be able to access the funds via the Government Insolvency Service.