moving work overseas due to costs

hi

we are moving some of the work currently done at our office in the uk overseas as a cost cutting exercise. We have been running about 2 years and are not yet at break even point with financial assistance coming from the directors of the business. We are not too far from break even but to get there quicker we need to close down one of the departments and shift the work overseas. We did this at a previous business and it was highly successful. Have been through the costs involved and it would cost us less than half we are currently paying in the UK. The department has 2 staff both have been with us less than 2 years. Do we have to give a consultation period seeing as we have made up our minds on this course of action and are in fact ready to go asap due to the work being very straight forward and very similar to what our overseas team did for us in the previous company. Do we have to pay consultation even if we are definitely closing the department and there are no jobs going? and if so what is the minimum we have to, both employees have been with us less than 2 years.

Wow - you really are an excellent example of a UK employer. Please feel free to ask this question again - someone else might answer it. Or go pay for legal costs out of all that money you will be saving making UK employees redundant - which you will no doubt spend on your own lifestyle in the UK whilst exploiting overseas workers. And I am not even going to think about apologising for that. Sterling example of what is wrong with British employers as you are. I can only hope that you do not take my advice and your employees find a way of taking you to the cleaners - if they would like to post on one of the other boards, I would be very willing to help them with this any way I can.

Hi SarEI

Woah - Unfortunately we are only a small business and the funding required to keep us going for the next year is out of reach ( I do not have a millionaire lifestyle (or indeed draw a salary from the business) as your reply suggests and receive no help or backing from elsewhere and would merely like to do the right thing by the employees we will be losing but also do what is right for the business too). It sounds like you are saying we should shut the business down rather than take cost cutting measures meaning we lose 10 UK jobs rather than 2? We often read about Orange or some other global cutting uk jobs in favour of overseas workers so why cant the smaller business use this same marketplace when the need arises and all other avenues have been looked at. I would love to keep the team on but its just impossible. Apologies for asking the question, it is an awkqward one I know but we wont be the last business who sees the overseas markets as an answer to a short term problem.

And you think that because global companies do this then it is ok? Because I don't. But let me be clear - you have decided to do this without any consultation, you have utterly no intention of making consultation meaningful because you have decided what you will do without any reference to the people who depend on their jobs to make a living. Your attitude towards your employees stinks. And then you come here trying to weasel out of your legal responsibilities because you have already decided that that is exactly what you will do.