Redundancy, when a clear and fair process is followed, is a fair dismissal. People professionals are often the people who have to ‘handle a redundancy’.

While the need for a formal written redundancy policy is not law, there are legal requirements for an employer to be able to provide suitable evidence if the dismissal leads to an unfair dismissal claim, and where the proposed redundancy pool is for 20 employees or more at a ‘single establishment’ (in this case, collective consultation rules start). 

Whether the employer has a formal procedure, or chooses to follow a more flexible approach, when handling a redundancy it is recommended that people professionals should, at least, include these steps: 

  1. Sensitively and accurately plan and record
  2. Identify the pool for selection 
  3. Seek volunteers 
  4. Consult employees 
  5. Make the selections for redundancy 
  6. Offer suitable alternative employment 
  7. Hear appeals 
  8. Arrange redundancy payments 
  9. Work with compassion throughout 
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The Employment Rights Bill will make changes to redundancy rules.  

Keep up to date with the latest on these changes with our tracker of potential law changes. 

We will update this page once any changes are enforced.

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