5 min read | 4 May, 2020 By Rachael Down
Redundancies can show the darkside of a business, which is why it's important to understand the cogs of the process.
That's why we're looking into length of the redundancy consultation period for UK employees. As it stands, this varies depending on the number of redundancies you have to make.
In this guide, you'll learn how to follow the proper procedure and handle redundancies of all sizes.
Here's what's in store:
A redundancy-consultation period is the time allocated for team conversations and meetings before formally agreeing to the redundancies.
Within this time frame it's important for you and your team to discuss:
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If a company needs to make 20 to 99 employees redundant, the employer must allow for a minimum 30-day consultation period.
For 100 redundancies or more, this jumps to 45 days prior to dismissal.
If you’re a small business looking to make less than 20 people redundant, there's no minimum time for a consultation. However, the law says it must be considered “meaningful” or the redundancy could be considered unfair.
As well as adhering to the minimum periods, you'll need to notify the Redundancy Payments Service before any consultation starts.
You’ll also need to consult with trade union reps, or elected employee representatives if your staff don’t belong to a trade union.
Once a consultation has taken place, you'll need to provide notice. The amount of notice depends on how long someone has worked for the company.
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Even if you’re considering dismissing less than 20 employees and have no statutory duty to hold a consultation, it’s still best to do it anyway. It's a way to have open conversations with your employees and their representatives.
In any redundancy consultation, you'll need to:
If you're making redundancies, you'll need to explain - in writing:
Top tip: If you haven't already, we recommend you create a redundancy policy. This is a useful addition to any employee handbook, which you can keep safe in your company documents within Breathe.
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