Consulting with employees is a compulsory step for employers in carrying out a redundancy procedure. It is advisable to start consultations as soon as possible in the process.
As an employer, once you have identified a pool of potential candidates for redundancy, you are required by law to undertake a consultation process with them. If the consultation is not undertaken or not carried out in accordance with employment legislation, then your employees may be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal.
Individual redundancy consultation
If fewer than twenty employees are being made redundant, then you will need to undergo an individual consultation with each of them and, where applicable, their representatives.
Where twenty or more are at risk of redundancy within 90 days, a collective consultation is required, which has strict timescales which must be adhered to. This article will look only at individual redundancies.
Stages of the individual redundancy consultation process
While an individual consultation does not have set timescales, the redundancy consultation period should be no less than seven days, preferably more, in order to demonstrate that the process is as fair as possible and that the employee has been given a chance to consider the situation properly.
The following steps will need to be followed:
- Those you have identified as being at risk of redundancy will need to be advised of this and also notified of the reasons for the proposed redundancies. At this point, you should advise them of the process you will be following, why they have been included in the pool for selection and the criteria you will use to select individuals for redundancy. For more information, see our article Selection criteria for redundancy. At this stage, you can also ask if there are any volunteers if you are prepared to look at voluntary redundancy.
- The next stage is to hold an individual consultation meeting with every employee who is at risk of redundancy. The following issues should be covered:
- Reasons for the redundancies
- How the pool has been chosen
- That their job is at risk
- That as their employer you will consult with them as to selection criteria and any other potential options
- The proposed effective date of a redundancy
- The financial remuneration they would be given
Following the meeting, the points covered should be put in writing to the employee.
- The employee should be given time to consider the situation, then a second redundancy meeting should be held to have a discussion with the employee, who may have ideas about avoiding redundancies, such as retraining or moving to a different department.
In order to be seen to be conducting a fair process, you should take the time to consider all of the options put forward with an open mind.
- The next stage is to apply the selection criteria and identify those who will be made redundant, then hold a third consultation meeting with the employee to advise them whether they were selected or not. The employee should have the chance to challenge their selection and raise any redundancy consultation questions they may have.
As the employer, you should consider whether there are any alternatives to redundancy for the employee and also respond to anything that is raised by them.
- You should then review the process and ensure that you have addressed any outstanding points and invite the employee for a final meeting. When the invitation is sent, you should advise the employee that no alternative to redundancy has been found and that they may be given notice at the meeting.
The employee can bring a colleague or trade union representative to the redundancy meeting with them if they wish. You should issue them with notice of termination of their employment, which should include the relevant dates, payments and confirm that they have the right to appeal their redundancy. Again, the points raised at the meeting should be confirmed in writing to the employee afterwards.
Contact us
Making employees redundant is never easy, however it is essential that you follow the correct procedure to protect your business from claims for unfair dismissal.
At Witan Solicitors we have wide-ranging experience of dealing with both voluntary and compulsory redundancy and we can advise you throughout to ensure that your interests are properly protected.
If you are considering making employees redundant and you would like to discuss your options with an expert employment lawyer, email us at info@witansolicitors.co.uk or fill in our contact form. We have offices in Birmingham, London and Northampton.
