Employment law solicitors look set to lose their European Court of Justice fight over compensation to victims of redundancies.

Most staff affected by the closure of retail chains Woolworths and Ethel Austin were helped by employment lawyers to won pay-outs from the government.

This came after a tribunal ruled that the retailers had not given them the 90-day consultancy period they should have.

However, more than 3,000 ex-employees received nothing as they were operating in branches staffed by fewer than 20 people – and it looks like the European Court of Justice court will uphold that decision. An opinion delivered by Nils Wahl, the court’s advocate general, backed the UK government. The court is not bound to agree with his judgement but it is highly likely that they will do so.

Employment solicitors say changes to the UK collective redundancy procedures could have a major impact on businesses and their staff.

A number of high-profile redundancies have been announced in recent months, including CityLink, Phones4U and some Tesco stores.