Redundancy Notice extention?

Can redundancy notice be extended at end of original notice period? i.e. can it be extended month to month or week to week?

It can be extended. But I would strongly suggest that it be by mutual agreement; and on the basis that you understand that as of the original redundancy date the employee is within their statutory notice period and can serve you with counter notice and leave with their redundancy pay intact. Extensions cannot be indefinite, and if you appear to be using this as a method of getting around or out of redundancy obligations, a tribunal will land upon you from a great height.

Make sure that everything is clear and in writing.

And if the employee has already served you counter-notice then you cannot extend.

Thanks. Its definately not to get out of obligations, just a chance to keep some of the employees working for a bit longer and stagger the redundances.

So am I correct in reading your answer that as long as both parties agree to the extension (e.g a month at a time) its ok to do so but if the employee decides a week later he wants his redundancy we cannot refuse as he is past his original notice date?

It isn't actually quite that simple - in fact it is incredibly complicated, and I am just trying to simplify it as much as possible.

If you are able to extend for a month at a time then that would be much fairer (probably on both sides). If an employee gets another job and you are not able to lift the threat of redundancy entirely before they do, they can serve counter-notice on you and you must honour their redundancy pay and they may want to reduce their notice from the end date you have agreed to start earlier (especially if there is a risk of losing the new job), in which case you should pay them up to their last day with you (not to the end of the extension. But no - you don't have to allow the employee to leave when they want - they must have secured another job and want to leave to start that job. If they just want to leave, then in law and I am DEFINITELY NOT TELLING YOU TO TO DO THIS you could refuse to pay redundancy. Unless they have another job, the power is in your hands - you can keep them hanging on for a very long time and just keep putting off the redundancy date. You can even cancel the redundancy entirely. You could do that - provided you want very pissed off employees! Although if the redundancy is cancelled they might not be that annoyed! Effectively, redundancy is not a contract - employees have no right to be made redundant and so if you don't make them redundant....

But as I said, there is a fast route to a mess and to unhappy employees and tribunals by adhering strictly to the law because it is mostly on your side! So better to be open and honest, discuss is with your staff and come to an agreement about what you are going to do. Be aware that if you are going to extend some employees and not others, you need to be clear and transparent about why some get to stay and others not. Otherwise you could still have a claim of unfair dismissal against you. "I picked" won't work as a defence! You could keep people who are key and required, you could use the selection scoring you used to select people so that lowest scorers exit first - whatver you do be clear that you have a very good reason for your selection and make sure you keep records of that.

This is still far more simple than the law makes it, but if you stick to these guidelines you should be able to make it as simple and painless for everyone as possible in these circumstances.