Redundancy

When does redundancy apply?

Sometimes businesses are faced with difficult situations that may result in the need to reduce staffing levels. Redundancy can happen when a business needs to close down or reduce costs; when merging with another company results in a duplication of skills or due to relocation; or where certain jobs or skills are no longer required.

Our HR consultants have experience of managing redundancy strategy in large and small businesses and can guide you through the complete process. We work with your managers to ensure they understand their role and have the skills to handle meetings with their teams and individual staff.

We can advise you on the legal, technical and employee relations aspects including:

Your legal obligations as an employer
Communicating and consulting with employees
Employee rights
Selection criteria
Payments and notice
Handling meetings with staff
Avoiding redundancy … other options
Working effectively with trade unions

Rules on handling redundancy vary depending on whether it’s small-scale with only a few staff affected, or large-scale where it affects the majority or all of the work-force.

Employment law and TUPE

Employment law relating to redundancies is complicated and getting it wrong can result in Employment Tribunal claims and hefty financial penalties, not to mention the risk to your business’s reputation.

There are also strict laws to a TUPE transfer. Although, sometimes it is inevitable, dealing with redundancy at the same time as a TUPE transfer can be complex.

The way you deal with a redundancy situation has an impact, not only on the affected employees, but also on those that remain. We help ensure that you have a strategy in place to keep staff motivated during and after redundancies have been made.