Farmison: Former employes of Yorkshire-based online butcher to receive compensation after legal battle

At the time of falling into administration, the company’s workforce was owed around £86,000 in salary, holiday pay and pension benefits, but administrator’s reports from the time showed they were only set to receive 31p in the pound back.

It was ruled in the tribunal hearing that the claimants, a group of around 30 former Farmison employees, are now entitled to a protective award for a period of 90 days, beginning 6 April 2023, the date the staff were dismissed.

The ruling will see the claimants become preferential creditors of Farmison, however, due to the company being in administration, the award will be paid by the Insolvency Service.

At the time of falling into administration, Farmison owed over £7m to a group of 199 unsecured creditors.

The firm, which supplied companies including Harrods, counted multiple rare-breed farmers amongst those it owed money to.

Two weeks after Farmison went into administration, it was bought out by a group led by former Asda CEO Andy Clarke. At the time of acquiring the firm, the new group pledged to re-hire many of the former workers.

The tribunal relates to the process undertaken when the administrator was responsible for the company, before the current investors acquired the business.

The new ownership group recently announced that it had now completed recruitment of 60 new roles at the firm’s Ripon headquarters. It said that it had re-hired a “significant” number of the former employees.

A spokesperson from Farmison’s new ownership group said: “Since taking on the business we've worked hard on beginning Farmison's turn around, and we're pleased we've been able to re-employ a significant number of Farmison colleagues who were made redundant by the administrator as well as other new colleagues from Ripon and surrounding areas.”

This comes as Farmison’s new owners say they have completed the first stage of plans to “re-energise” the business.

The firm has also announced a string of new deals made over the last six months, including a new arrangement to supply The Grill restaurant at London-based Harrods, as well as the department store’s food hall.

Chief executive officer, Andy Adcock, said the firm was now looking towards the next stage of its plan.

He said: “Because it’s rooted in a clear principle to help and encourage consumers eat better meat, this business has always had significant potential.

“Our work to bring new energy to Farmison over the last six months has only made that view

stronger, and because of those efforts, we can now look forward to moving on to the next stage of our plan - returning Farmison to sustainable growth in the months and years ahead.”