Ensure compliance and fairness
Redundancy advice for employers in the UK
Redundancy is a complex area of employment law, meaning the margin for error is high. How do you make sure you can have a fair process that limits the chance of damaging employment tribunals?
Our expert business employment law team is on hand to help. From determining whether your organisation is in a genuine redundancy situation to understanding redundancy pay and settlement agreements, our redundancy support for employers will help you transform complex legislation into manageable steps.
Helping you with
Expert advice and redundancy support for employers
Whether you’re looking at single redundancies or collective consultation, navigate the process as painlessly as possible and limit the potential for claims with our end-to-end redundancy legal advice for businesses.
From step-by-step Employment Law advice to bespoke HR Consultancy support tailored to the needs of your business, our highly-qualified experts can help you to make necessary business decisions confidently and compliantly. No guesswork, no unnecessary pressure on those involved.
- Navigate the process smoothly with guidance from dedicated Employment Law specialists
- Unlimited, fixed-fee, 24/7 support for business owners, HR teams and managers
- Save time with bespoke document drafting – at-risk letters, meeting invites, dismissal letters and more
- Additional specialist HR support with consultation meetings to take the pressure off
- Optional Legal Expenses Insurance for added protection against claims
Reduce legal risks with expert business redundancy support
Mismanaging the redundancy process (selecting employees for an unfair reason or overlooking certain procedural elements) can result in Employment Tribunal claims. You must also consult every step of the way, deal with queries and concerns, and be able to justify your decisions. Understandably, many employers don’t feel equipped to handle these situations without proper support.
Whether you need a dedicated Employment Law specialist to help you properly consider your proposals, craft legally-compliant documentation and guide you through the redundancy exercise, or more hand-holding HR Consultancy support, ranging from a review of your business case to full end-to-end project management, we can help. Protect against financial and reputational risk, relieve pressure on management time, and focus on your strategic vision with complete peace of mind.
How do you make an employee redundant?
Making an employee redundant involves a fair and legally compliant process. Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, redundancy may occur if the business:
- Ceases to trade
- A specific site closes
- There’s a reduced need for employees to carry out work of a particular kind.
Once you’re satisfied there’s a genuine redundancy situation, the next step is to develop a business case that clearly outlines the:
- Reasons for the decision
- The proposed selection criteria
- The consultation process.
Employees should be informed as early as possible, with clear written communication regarding the roles at risk, the rationale for redundancy, and the intended timeline.
Regardless of the number of redundancies being proposed, individual consultation is a crucial part of the process. It gives employees the opportunity to ask questions, challenge the rationale, and suggest alternatives before any final decisions are made. If selecting from a pool, you’ll need to come up with selection criteria. This must be objective, fair and non-discriminatory.
Documentation is crucial at every stage to demonstrate the process was handled correctly. If redundancy is confirmed, you must provide affected employees with appropriate notice, explain their rights, and offer any alternative roles. Employees with at least two years of consecutive service may be entitled to statutory redundancy pay, calculated based on age, length of service, and weekly earnings (subject to the statutory cap).
Employees also have the right to a four-week trial period in a suitable alternative role without losing their right to redundancy pay.
How long does the redundancy process take?
The length of a redundancy process depends on the number of employees affected and the employer’s legal obligations:
- For businesses making fewer than 20 redundancies within a 90-day period there’s no minimum consultation period, but the consultation should be meaningful and allow sufficient time to discuss the reasons for redundancy and explore alternatives, such as redeployment.
- For larger-scale redundancies, specific consultation periods apply of;
- At least 30 days for 20 to 99 redundancies
- At least 45 days for 100 or more redundancies
During the consultation period, you must inform employees of the reasons for the proposed redundancies, the selection criteria, and any potential alternatives (such as alternative roles). The length of the process can vary significantly. In smaller organisations, it may take a few weeks, while in larger businesses it can extend over several months. You should ensure the consultation is genuine and well-documented to reduce the risk unfair dismissal claims.
Access a full suite of HR support for redundancy
Redundancy advice line for employers
Fast, pragmatic, commercial. Our Employment Law & HR advice line gives you and your managers access to truly unlimited advice on all of your people-related challenges, from the seemingly straightforward to the most complex.
What sorts of things can you advise on?
HR matters come with the territory when you run a business or manage an organisation and we’re here to help you through it all. Whether you’re battling absenteeism, struggling to manage an underperforming employee or need help navigating a complicated exercise like redundancy, we can walk you through the steps required to handle the situation appropriately.
Is everything dealt with through one team?
Yes. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means a full range of employee issues can be dealt with within your dedicated three-person team. In the event that you’re presented with an Employment Tribunal claim, we will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team so that they are well equipped to defend you.
Contracts and Handbooks
Whether you have nothing in place or just need an expert review, our Employment Law specialists can carefully craft your employment contracts and employee handbooks to guarantee compliance and provide the flexibility you need as an employer.
What are the risks of not having the right contracts in place?
Failing to provide an employee with a contract could lead to additional compensation being awarded to an employee who successfully makes another sort of claim against their employer. In addition, a number of practical problems could be caused by having incorrect contracts, such as paying too little (or too much) notice, getting holiday entitlement wrong and failing to protect legitimate business interests in the face of an employee leaving for a competitor.
How often do HR policies need to be reviewed?
Whenever there are changes to UK employment legislation, such as the recent changes to bereavement leave or the Good Work Plan, it’s important to make sure your contracts, handbooks and policies are updated accordingly. We can take the pressure off by alerting you to any such changes and helping you to implement them in your documentation and practices.
Drafting Letters and Documents
From the most straightforward warning for poor attendance to complex grievance outcome letters and everything in between, our Employment Law solicitors can draft all your employment documents to save you valuable time and stress.
What sorts of documents can you draft?
Just about anything and everything you might need during the employment relationship. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means we can support you with a full spectrum of advice and documentation, from first written warnings to new contractual clauses, to a policy you might not have in your handbook, plus more complex legal documents like settlement agreements and redundancy outcome letters.
I’ve got a HR team and just want templates we can use. Do you have a resources bank?
Yes, our fixed-fee Employment Law and HR support includes full access to our Knowledge Hub, available through MyEW, which contains most of the templates we work from. If you have an internal HR team, you may prefer to access these and tailor them yourselves. However, for more complex cases, we would always suggest engaging with our legal advisers as it can be all too easy to word something in a way that leaves you exposed.
eLearning
Tired of classroom training, or unable to take time out? Raise awareness of best-practice around workplace issues and prevent HR headaches with our flexible, cost-effective eLearning courses.
What types of courses are available?
Our ever-growing library of eLearning courses currently covers over 100 topics, including HR courses such as Equality & Diversity, Sexual Harassment and Social Media Use; soft skills courses such as Communication, Leadership and Change Management; and compliance courses such GDPR, Anti-Money Laundering and the Bribery Act. We also offer an extensive range of Health & Safety courses, including Accident Reporting, Risk Assessment and First Aid. Download the full course catalogue.
How much do the courses cost?
All of our eLearning courses are free for the first year when you purchase our Employment Law & HR or Health & Safety managed service. This means you’re not paying per head or per course, which not only keeps down but gives you complete cost certainty over your training expenses. This is particularly handy if your workforce is growing, as you won’t need to purchase extra licenses, giving you exceptional value for money.
Legal Expenses Insurance
An optional component of our Employment Law and HR support, by underpinning our advice with Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI), you have maximum reassurance that your business is protected against unfair dismissal and other costly employee claims.
I’ve never had a claim before – why would I need to take LEI?
For the same reason you take out any insurance policy – to guard against the high cost of defending an Employment Tribunal claim. The premium cost is very low compared to the potential payout, especially as it covers the cost of representation as well as any potential compensation. You don’t have to have LEI, but it could significantly impact your bottom line if something goes wrong, given that the cost of even the most basic unfair dismissal claim could be £20-25,000 when legal costs are factored in. Unfortunately, the latest Tribunal statistics suggest that employers now are more vulnerable than ever.
Can you deal with Employment Tribunal claims, or is this triaged outside of EW?
Should you receive a claim, your dedicated Employment Law adviser, who will have dealt with the matter up until that point, will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team. They will explain the case history, share all the relevant documentation and offer their views on the prospects of the claim. Our Litigation Team will then take over all the prep work, including drafting a defence, producing bundles, dealing with Acas and the other side, and briefing counsel. Rest assured this is a smooth process, with everything kept inside EW, and you will be in safe hands throughout.
Management Information
Discipline, performance, absenteeism. We’ll show you exactly where your dedicated Employment Law advisers are spending their time so that you can target key problem areas for more productive, high-performing teams. Recommended for large organisations with high case volumes.
What detail does the MI provide?
The report will highlight what sorts of issues we are advising on and who/where in your business those questions are coming from. That way, we can easily spot problem areas, bring them to your attention and recommend steps to address the issues.
What sorts of recommendations do you typically provide?
We will provide practical and pragmatic recommendations to address whatever common problems are arising. The exact nature will depend on the sort of issues but could include training of managers in certain areas or the production of additional guidance and documentation to guide them through tricky subjects.
MyEW
From document templates to HR Software, MyEW gives you all the tools you need to manage even the trickiest employee issues, improve efficiencies and get the answers you need, fast.
What sorts of issues can I find guides and templates on?
We have hundreds of guidance notes and accompanying templates covering a full spectrum of employment-related issues, including Maternity, Pay, Flexible Working, Holidays, Performance and Redundancy. All of these resources are created by our experts, and if you require further support or have any questions, you can contact your dedicated team of advisers for practical advice and guidance.
What does the HR Software do?
There can be a great deal of administration involved in managing employees, and the burden only increases as your business grows. If filing cabinets of employee information is no longer cutting it, our HR Software will help to automate your processes, save valuable time and manage HR tasks at the touch of a button. Use it to store and organise employee data and essential documents; manage and report on holidays, absence, timesheets and rostering; stay on top of employee reviews; maintain a comprehensive employee directory, and keep a record of training and development.
Why choose us?
Get access to vital redundancy legal advice for businesses
Our innovative redundancy support services are already helping thousands of UK businesses. Our expertise is unmatched and we also take the time to know your brand so we can tailor our support to your organisation.
- Your own small team of dedicated experts
- Commercial, pragmatic advice tailored to you
- Bespoke contracts, policies and handbooks
- Trusted by over 35,000 organisations
- Recognised as a leading firm by the Legal 500
Who you’ll be working with
Toyah Marshall
Principal Employment Law Adviser
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FAQs
If someone is made redundant, can they be replaced?
Yes, it’s possible to replace the employee and even with a lower wage. However, you should be careful as replacing one individual implies their role was no longer required and deciding to hire somebody else in this position provides clear evidence this wasn’t the case. As such, the redundant employee could make a claim to an Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal.
This means you must look to offer suitable alternative roles to employees you’re making redundant before hiring new members of staff.
How long after making someone redundant can you re-employ?
There is no set amount of time an employer must wait before recruiting again after redundancy. However, it’s important to keep in mind the legal risks – namely claims for unfair dismissal – if you hire somebody to do a job that has not long been made redundant. If there has been an unexpected change in circumstances, i.e. you’ve secured a new contract, it may be acceptable to recruit again – but, to be safe, you should make sure that the job spec is sufficiently different from the role you just made redundant. Of course, you could consider re-employing the individual(s) you have already made redundant and you would not necessarily have to wait any period of time before doing so.
Can employers claim back statutory redundancy pay?
Not usually. An employer could make an offer of re-employment conditional upon repayment of statutory redundancy pay but there would be little incentive for the former employee to accept that.
Can I make an apprentice redundant?
It depends. In England, if an apprentice is employed on an approved apprenticeship agreement or an apprenticeship agreement, then normal principles apply, and they can be made redundant like any other employee. This is the same for apprentices in Wales employed on apprenticeship agreements.
However, apprentices in Scotland and those elsewhere who are employed on old-style, common-law apprenticeship agreements have additional safeguards not available to the rest of the workforce. They can’t be dismissed by reason of redundancy in the usual way, unless there’s a closure of the business or the employer’s business undergoes a fundamental change in its character.
Can redundancy be withdrawn?
Once an employer has issued an employee with a notice of redundancy, it is legally binding. As such, it cannot be unilaterally withdrawn by the employer without the employee’s consent. However, if circumstances change and the redundancy is no longer necessary, it is possible to withdraw the redundancy notice while the employee is working their notice period, so long as they explicitly agree to this.
Can a pregnant woman be made redundant?
‘Pregnancy and maternity’ is one of nine protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act 2010. Accordingly, employers must not subject employees to detrimental treatment as a result of them being pregnant, breastfeeding or haven recently given birth.
While pregnant employees can be made redundant, employers must ensure that the reason for selecting a pregnant employee for redundancy is in no way connected to them being pregnant or suffering a pregnancy-related illness. This means developing and applying fair, objective, non-discriminatory scoring criteria. You must also include pregnant employees in the consultation process and properly consider suitable alternative employment.
How does redundancy pay work?
Those who have worked for you for two years or more will be entitled to a statutory redundancy payment. The amount they receive will depend on their age, pay and length of service. Those under 22 years of age are entitled to half a week’s pay for each full year’s service; 22 to 41-year-olds are entitled to one week’s pay for each full year, and those aged 41 or older are entitled to one and a half week’s pay for each full year.
A week’s pay is capped at £525, with a maximum length of service of 20 years. Therefore, if an employee is made redundant after 6 April 2020, the maximum statutory redundancy pay they will receive is £15,750. An employee won’t be entitled to redundancy pay if they unreasonably refuse a reasonable offer of suitable alternative employment.
When does the redundancy notice period start?
The redundancy notice period will start once the employee is served with a notice of redundancy and given a finishing date. Employees who have been employed for at least one month but less than two years are entitled to a minimum of one week’s notice. Those with between two and 12 years’ service are entitled to one week’s notice for each year they have been employed, although some employees may have more generous notice requirements contained in their contract.
Can you provide support for redundancy consultation meetings?
Yes, if you’re not confident in chairing these meetings yourself or simply don’t have the time, our experienced HR Consultants can conduct your consultation meetings for you for extra peace of mind.