Question 1

What happens at a redundancy consultation?

Accepted Answer

A process an employer must follow before dismissing for redundancy — and consultation must be **genuine and happen while proposals are still capable of being influenced**, which is the requirement most frequently breached.

**Collective consultation.** Where **20 or more** redundancies are proposed at one establishment within 90 days, the employer must consult **representatives** — a recognised trade union, or elected employee representatives where there is none.

**Minimum periods** apply before the first dismissal takes effect: **30 days** for 20–99 redundancies, and **45 days** for 100 or more. The employer must also notify the Secretary of State.

**Consultation must cover** ways of avoiding the dismissals, reducing the numbers, and mitigating the consequences — **not merely how the redundancies will be implemented**. An employer presenting a settled decision and discussing only its execution has not consulted.

**Failure to consult collectively** can result in a **protective award** of up to 90 days' pay per affected employee, which is a penalty for the failure and is not dependent on showing the outcome would have differed.

**Individual consultation.** Required regardless of numbers, for a fair dismissal. Typically involves an initial meeting explaining the situation, discussion of selection, and consideration of alternatives.

**What makes a redundancy dismissal fair:**

**A genuine redundancy situation** — business closure, workplace closure, or a reduced requirement for employees to do work of a particular kind.

**A fair pool** for selection, appropriately defined.

**Objective selection criteria**, applied fairly and evidenced. Criteria such as attendance require care, since disability-related absence must be discounted.

**Meaningful consultation** with each individual.

**A genuine search for suitable alternative employment**, including in associated employers.

**Special protections.** Employees on **maternity, adoption or shared parental leave** have enhanced rights to be offered suitable alternative vacancies in priority, and this protection has been extended to a period around pregnancy and return.

**Statutory redundancy pay** depends on age, length of service and weekly pay, subject to a cap, with two years' service required.

**Suitable alternative employment** carries a **trial period**, and unreasonably refusing a suitable offer can forfeit redundancy pay.

General information, not legal advice.

Question 2

What is the difference between redundancy and dismissal?

Accepted Answer

Redundancy is a dismissal for a specific reason: the job is no longer needed. Dismissal generally refers to termination for a reason relating to you — conduct, capability, or another substantial

Question 3

How is redundancy selection actually carried out?

Accepted Answer

Through a defined process — identifying a pool, applying objective criteria, scoring individuals, and consulting — and the fairness of each step is exactly what a tribunal examines if the dismissal

Question 4

How does an employment tribunal claim work?

Accepted Answer

A specialist tribunal hearing claims about employment rights — less formal than a court, with its own procedure, and governed by very short time limits that end more claims than any argument about

Question 5

How does a grievance procedure work?

Accepted Answer

The formal route for raising a concern about your employment with your employer — and although the procedure itself is not directly enforceable, following it matters because failing to can reduce

Question 6

What is a settlement agreement and when is one offered?

Accepted Answer

A settlement agreement is a legally binding contract in which an employee agrees to waive their right to bring claims against the employer, usually in exchange for a payment. It was formerly called a

Question 7

What happens if your employer goes insolvent and you are owed money?

Accepted Answer

You become a creditor — and the practical answer is that some of what you are owed is payable by a government scheme rather than depending on whether there is money left in the business, which is the

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