How long is the redundancy consultation period?

If your small to medium-sized business needs to make redundancies due to economic pressure or a change in business direction, it’s important to understand your legal responsibilities.

 In this blog, we explain how redundancy consultation periods work and what UK employers must do at each stage. 

 

Skip to:

 

• What a redundancy consultation period is

• How long a redundancy consultation period should be

• What happens after the consultation period 

• How to support your people through the redundancy consultation and notice periods
  
  

What is a redundancy consultation period?

 

A redundancy consultation period is the time set aside for open, honest conversations with your workers before you make any final decisions about redundancies. All employees at risk of redundancy have a legal right to this consultation, according to the Employment Rights Act 1996. If you don’t handle the consultation correctly or skip the process entirely, employees may be able to claim unfair dismissal.

 

Along with being a legal requirement, the redundancy consultation process is also good practice. This stage is a chance to have open conversations with your employees and can even result in a positive outcome, such as someone moving into a new internal role.

 

During consultation, it’s important to cover:

 

• How the consultation will run and over what timeframe

• Who’s likely to be affected

• Why you’re proposing redundancies

• How many employees’ roles may be affected

• How you’ll select employees for redundancy

• What alternatives you’ve considered, such as restructuring, retraining, or revised conditions if appropriate.

 

During the consultation, give employees space to share their views and feel heard. Uncertainty and fear are normal with any type of change, and it's important to be sensitive to others’ feelings and circumstances.

Here’s a letter template you can use to let employees know they’re at risk.

 

How long is a redundancy consultation period?

The length of the consultation period depends on the number of proposed redundancies. Fewer than 20 redundancies fall under individual consultation, and 20 or more require collective consultation, which comes with additional legal requirements.

Individual consultations for fewer than 20 redundancies

If your business is making fewer than 20 redundancies within 90 days, there’s no minimum consultation period. Consultation must still be meaningful by:

• Giving employees enough time to respond

• Sharing clear information about why redundancies are proposed

• Discussing alternatives, such as moving employees to other internal roles

• Holding at least one individual meeting with every employee at risk

Even though the law doesn’t set a time limit, it’s good practice to allow space for thoughtful conversations, questions, and feedback. Check out this individual consultation meeting agenda to keep your discussion on track.

Collective consultations for more than 20 redundancies

If you’re proposing 20 or more redundancies within 90 days, the rules change.

20-99 redundancies

If you need to make 20 to 99 employees redundant within 90 days, you must provide a redundancy consultation period for a minimum of 30 days. There’s no upper time limit on how long this needs to last.

For 100+ redundancies

For 100 or more redundancies within 90 days, the consultation period must last at least 45 days prior to dismissal. Again, there’s no maximum time limit here if you wish to take longer.

Additional rules for collective redundancies

If you’re proposing more than 20 redundancies, you should also notify the Redundancy Payments Service before any consultation starts. This is a legal requirement and helps the government track and support large-scale redundancy situations.

You must also consult with employee representatives. These may be recognised trade union representatives, or chosen employee representatives if your staff don’t belong to a trade union.

Employee representatives are chosen by those who might be made redundant to take part in the consultation on their behalf. They ask questions and put forward the views and concerns of the employees who are at risk of redundancy. Once consultation has started and representatives have all the information they need, you can begin working through the process together.

It’s important to have enough employee representatives in place to make sure there’s still fair representation if someone’s on sick leave or can’t make a meeting.

Note: If you're making 20 or more redundancies at one site within a 90-day period and don't follow the proper collective consultation process, you'll face a significant financial penalty. As of 6 April 2026, that penalty has doubled. This means the maximum protective award is now 180 days' pay per employee. 

After the consultation process: How to handle the redundancy notice period

After you’ve confirmed who to make redundant, the next step is to provide employees with their formal redundancy notice.

The length of the notice period depends on how long someone has worked for you:

• Between one month and two years = one week’s notice

• Between two and 12 years = one week’s notice for every full year of service

• More than 12 years = 12 weeks’ notice

These are the statutory minimums. You can offer longer notice if this is appropriate for your business or written into your contracts.

You must pay your employees throughout their notice period. If their contract allows, you can give pay in lieu of notice (PILON) instead, meaning their employment ends immediately, but they receive the full value of their notice pay.

Tip: Use our free redundancy calculator to calculate the correct pay.

What employees must receive in their formal redundancy notice

Once consultation ends and you’ve confirmed your final decisions, you must give all employees being made redundant with a written redundancy notice. This is the point where the dismissal becomes formal.

Your written notice must include:

• The final decision to make their role redundant

• The employee’s official leaving date

• Their statutory or contractual notice period

• How you’ll calculate redundancy payments (including statutory redundancy pay or any other contractual or enhanced payments)

• Any outstanding holiday or entitlements

• If they’ll work their notice or receive pay in lieu

• What support or next steps are available

This notice is separate from the redundancy consultation. It’s a legal document that sets out the employee’s rights and what will happen next.

Top tip: If you haven't already, consider creating a redundancy policy. This is a useful addition to any employee handbook, which you can keep safe in your company documents within Breathe.

Support your people through the redundancy consultation and notice periods

The redundancy consultation period keeps you talking to your employees during a difficult time. While the legal requirements can feel complex, having clear guidance and the right tools makes the journey much easier for everyone involved.

If you’d like extra support, Breathe’s Redundancy Toolkit includes consultation templates, checklists, meeting scripts, and step-by-step guidance to help you manage each stage smoothly and compliantly. It’s a free online resource, created in partnership with employment law experts at HR consultancy, Clover HR.

You can also contact Clover HR directly for formal HR and legal advice - or any of the other qualified consultants in the Breathe Partner Programme.