Redundancy Consultation - Your right to consultation

Redundancy Consultation

Employers should consult with employees about the redundancy situation in good time. Consultation with all concerned should be constructive and a way of sharing the problem and exploring options of how redundancy may be avoided.

Certain information must be disclosed about the planned redundancies in writing including:

• reason(s) for the redundancies
• number of employees and descriptions of employees affected
• selection criteria and method that employees may be dismissed
• carrying out the dismissals including the period over which the dismissals are to take effect
• how redundancy payments will be calculated

There are two ways in which this consultation will happen.

• Individual consultation. You should be consulted individually by your employer to discuss the redundancy, why you were selected and look for other options to avoid making you redundant.

• Collective consultation. If your employer is planning to make 20 or more redundancies over a period of 90 days or less, they have a statutory duty to consult representatives of any recognised independent trade union.

Collective consultation with a trade union or staff representative should involve discussions as to how the redundancies could be avoided, how the quantity of employees to be made redundant can be reduced or kept to a minimum and how the effects could be limited with retraining plans.

You (or your representative/trade union) can take your employer to an Employment Tribunal if this doesn’t happen.

For more reading and information about Consultation and Legal Requirements