OpsReturn, that isn't a true picture at all.
There is already an employment law which states that for the number of employees that have been made redundant there should have been a 90 days consultation period, not a 15 minute that's it !!!! off announcement, plus the 30 days notice period or whatever was in your contract. That is a lowest limit to what we are owed by the Company, not the UK Govt.
The company going into CVA might not be a disaster for the staff in the long run as the companies responsibilities to them as above are not written off by any offer of 0.06p in the pound to other creditors. In fact it strengthens the chances of payment, if you believe the company isn't going to be wound up.
However to get a CVA approved there has to be an approved recovery strategy which the company is bound to follow.
I'd rather believe a lawyer than you Ops Return, as you sound very close to things and might just have a differing reason to want everyone to shrug their shoulders and lie down quietly.
If anyone thinks that it will go away quietly then I think they will be wrong. Stoddart has caused anger with the way he has treated the staff, and anger could spur people on to damage him in any way possible business wise.
Don't underestimate just how p!ssed off a significant number of people are about this. It's one thing to lose a job it's quite another to feel you have been robbed blind as well.