If you are an employee facing the risk of redundancy, you may find the answers to the following FAQs particularly helpful:

What is redundancy?

Contrary to popular belief, redundancy is actually a form of ‘dismissal’. Typically, an employer will consider redundancy when the need to reduce the workforce arises. This can range from closing the workplace in its entirety to a smaller scale restructuring or reorganisation of the workforce. Other reasons for considering redundancy may include when a business is re-locating, changing what it does or has gone bust altogether.

What does it mean to be placed ‘at risk’ of redundancy?

If you have been placed at risk of redundancy this does not mean that you are officially being made redundant but rather that your employer is planning to make redundancies and is formally notifying you of the possibility that you will be affected by this and that you have been selected for consultation. Before the final decision to make someone redundant is taken, a form of consultation must take place. This is a statutory protection granting a minimum standard for how redundancies are conducted. The legislation governing this is the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULCRA).

How do employers select employees for redundancy?

There is no ‘one size fits all’ selection process for redundancy, however, employers must make their selection carefully and ensure that they do not discriminate against anyone.

The government has set out the following fair selection criteria for redundancy:

• skills, qualifications and aptitude
• standard of work and/or performance
• attendance
• disciplinary record
• employers can select employees based on their length of service but only if it can be justified. If it affects one group of people more than another this could constitute indirect discrimination.

The government has also laid out an unfair selection criteria:

• pregnancy, including all reasons relating to maternity
• family, including parental leave, paternity leave (birth and adoption), adoption leave or time off for dependants
• acting as an employee representative
• acting as a trade union representative
• joining or not joining a trade union
• being a part-time or fixed-term employee
• age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation
• pay and working hours, including the Working Time Regulations, annual leave and the National Minimum Wage.

What is a redundancy consultation?

Employers are required to consult employees about potential redundancies as early as possible. This consultation should involve your employer discussing their proposals and looking at ways in which redundancies may be avoided or reduced. Suitable alternatives to redundancy should be considered by your employer during the consultation, e.g. working part-time rather than full-time or any alternative roles you could take on instead. You should be given the chance to ask questions and raise any concerns you may have throughout this process. If your employer is proposing to make less than 20 employees redundant within a 90-day period, they are required to consult with each employee individually. However, if they are intending to make over 20 redundancies in your workplace within the aforementioned period then they must enter into a collective consultation with elected staff representatives.

What should I do if my employer offers me an alternative role?

If a suitable alternative role exists then you may be eligible to be considered for this but your employer is not required to create an alternative role for you unless you fall under the category of ‘maternity’. If you are offered a suitable alternative role you should think this through before making a decision as to whether to accept or reject the role as rejecting a role that your employer deems to be a suitable alternative may result in you losing your right to a redundancy payment.

How long should a consultation period last for?

There exists no statutory time limit for how long a consultation period can last, however, the number of employees involved does have an impact on when the consultation must begin. If you are one of 20 to 99 employees being made redundant, the consultation period must begin at least 30 days prior to the first dismissal and if 100 or more redundancies are being made then this increases to 45 days.

Can I raise a grievance during the redundancy consultation period?

You are entitled to raise a grievance at any time during the redundancy consultation period and it is likely that your employer will have a standard grievance procedure that needs to be followed. Raising a grievance enables you to formally establish any complaints that you may have with regards to the redundancy in general and how it is being handled. After raising the grievance you will have a meeting to discuss the complaint(s) and an investigation will follow, after which you will be informed of the outcome. If in doubt as to whether or not to raise a grievance speak with a legal specialist who will be able to offer you the best advice in relation to your options.

If I am made redundant, how much notice should I be given?

The statutory redundancy notice periods are:

• at least one week’s notice if employed between one month and 2 years
• one week’s notice for each year if employed between 2 and 12 years
• 12 weeks’ notice if employed for 12 years or more

How much redundancy pay am I entitled to?

If you are an employee and you have been working for your current employer for two years or more, you will normally be entitled to a statutory redundancy pay.

Statutory redundancy pay is as follows:

• half a week’s pay for each full year you were under 22
• one week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41
• one and half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older

The maximum number of years’ service which can count towards a statutory redundancy payment is capped at 20 years.

However, there may be the scope or possibility of negotiating an ex gratia payment (extra goodwill payments) if your circumstances permit, e.g. discrimination, unfair dismissal, whistleblowing. You must seek specialist legal advice before any such negotiation takes place.

If you wish to calculate your statutory redundancy pay there is a useful tool to do so on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-redundancy-pay

For more information on the redundancy consultation process, negotiating redundancy payments or challenging redundancy, you can contact a member of our client support team for an initial 30-minute free legal advice session  on 0203 627 9727 or send us an email at info@hillarycooperlaw.co.uk and a member of our team will be in touch.

If you found this article useful, why not check out the rest of our series on redundancy:

Is the Notion of Redundancy, Redundant?: https://hillarycooperlaw.co.uk/is-the-notion-of-redundancy-redundant/

Redundancy – Deep Diving into choppy waters: https://hillarycooperlaw.co.uk/redundancy-deep-diving-into-choppy-waters/