Starting the process on your own can feel daunting. It risks becoming drawn out and unsettling for everyone in your business if not handled correctly. Our approach is to give you the tools and confidence to handle a redundancy situation in a legally watertight way, but without losing sight of the impact it will have on those facing disruption or selection.
- Redundancy – where to start
- Who to consult with
- Who to select for redundancy
- Alternatives to redundancy
- Consultation meetings
- Redundancy – scoring employees
- Concluding redundancy consultation
Is there a redundancy situation?
If you are considering making redundancies, you need to be satisfied that the circumstances amount to a redundancy situation. Any dismissals that do take place need to be genuinely by reason of redundancy. You will have a potential liability for redundancy pay.
A redundancy situation will occur in at least on of the following 3 circumstances:
- Business Closure Are you closing the business in which the employee worked?
- Workplace Closure Are you relocating or closing the place of business where the employee worked?
- Requirement to carry out work of a particular kind has ceased or diminished is there a reduction in the need for work of a particular kind to be carried out?
You will need to consider whether the circumstances fall within one of the above categories or whether there is some other situation that means you need to reduce the number of employees.
Action to take once satisfied that there is a redundancy situation?
Once satisfied that there is a redundancy situation, employers should consider whether there is any way to avoid or reduce the amount of redundancies. Options may include:
- Placing employees on temporary leave (‘furlough’) – however, the governments contribution to this scheme will end in October
- Offer voluntary, enhanced terms or early retirement by way of a settlement agreement
- Agree to flexible work
- Reduce someone’s working hours (with their agreement)
- Provide alternative employment
How many employees will be made redundant?
If there are no alternatives, you then need to consider what roles – and how many staff are going to be affected by the dismissals.