Closure of a division - making some of us redundant

Myself and 4 others are up for redundancy next friday as the company is "restructuring". They have decided to close the division at the office that i work in which will mean the redundancy of 5 employees.

They have started giving bits of all our work to other employees already which is fine, apart orm the fact that these employees have been here less than a year compared to my 2 and a bit years and a lot of knowledge and my managers nearly 9 years and over 15yrs knowledge.

Can they by law make us redundant even though we are more experienced and quialified, and then split our still full time roles (ok so maybe 3 of us could go and 2 could manage) could they split 2 full time roles between many others who havent been here long at all and dont know the job?

I dont know where i stand and as myself and my assistant are pregnant we want to make sure that everything being done is done correctly.

IF i havent explained it very well pleaselet me know but any advice appreciated!

Thank you for your message although I am sorry to hear that you are facing redundancy. Redundancy is a traumatic event, and can't be easy for you while you are pregnant.

Has your employer conducted Individual consultations with you yet to explain the restructure and answer any questions, discuss ways that redundancy could be avoided with you yet?

A popular reason for making redundancies (particularly at present) is reorganising working methods to improve efficiency.


You may believe that you should not be made redundant because the job that you are doing still needs to be done. The important point to note is whether the work which you were employed to do is still available for you to do. If it is no longer available, even if it is being done by other people, then your job no longer exists and you are therefore redundant.

It is unlawful to select employees for redundancy due to pregnancy as this would be sex discrimination. The fact that your whole division is to be made redundant makes this less of a possibility? Dismissals for certain reasons are “automatically unfair”. If your dismissal takes places for any reason to do with your pregnancy or you believe that you have been selected for redundancy on the grounds of your pregnancy, all the you have to show for a successful claim against the employer is that the dismissal was for that reason.

It is law for employers to have an appeals procedure so that an employee can appeal against their selection for redundancy. If you are unhappy with the decision to make you redundant, appeal to your employer.

Let me know the information from your consultation if you can. I wish you all the best.

I have had one individual consultation already and have another on Wednesday but wasnt realy sure what kind of things to ask. These issues with other people doing my job have only come to light since.

Does the company have any legal obligation to tell me who is going to continue doing my job? because they are making 5 full time positions redundant and no one, even the national manager can under stand why and how they are going to continue without all 5 of us here. 2 other members of a different team have been handed little bits of my job already as the company wanted a multi skilled "front end team" which i understand and it makes sense, but these 2 people are pushed to their limit already and are already doing 2 peoples work each so none of it makes any sense, I have asked if there are any other positions i could be considered for but thats all. i now want to know who is actually going to do my job, because if they are just moving my job to another office, them im sure they have to offer me that position at the different location before making me redundant? I wouldnt accept the job at another location, but they havent even made any hints at how anything is going to be run, when from and by whom.

Is there anything else i can ask on wednesday? at the moment i dont believe its got anything to do with me being pregnant, although another girl who has been given part of my job, has only been here since marhc, and i can do her job inside out, plus everything that they have started giving her of my job. Her job is safe apparently for the time being. Surely they should be looking at who is best to keep on to run the company on minimum staff? it just dosent make any sense to any body.

Thank you for your reply Lacey.

I'm afraid the company does not have a legal obligation to tell you who or how (and which parts) of the work you were employed to do is going to be re-organised amongst the workforce. This is something which your employer may tell you during the consultation and by all means ask. The company does need to tell you the reason for the redundancy though.

Redundancy consultation is a two way process which should cover the following:

• the reason for the redundancy dismissals
• why and how individuals have been selected
• possible ways of avoiding redundancy
• possible alternative work.

I would advise you to make sure all of the above points are covered in your meeting and raise your concerns about the ability of the existing staff to undertake the duties that they will have to do in the event of your (and others in your division) redundancy. You may raise points which the company has not considered.

On the whole, it looks like the looming redundancy of yourself and your division is a genuine outcome of restructuring and adopting a flexible approach with multi-skilled employees. From what you have outlined, your duties are being carved up and bits and pieces of work are going to be distributed amongst other departments which is above board.

I hope I have helped. Let me know how you get on at your meeting on Wednesday if you can and if I can be of any further help after that, just ask.