Redundant at end of secondment

18 months ago I was asked by my boss if I would be willing to be seconded to another part of the company to do a higher level job. Whilst the salary for the role was higher I was told I would not get any additional pay however I accepted the secondment as I saw it as a development/career opportunity. I later found that my manager was charging the new manager a daily rate for my secondment based upon the higher salary and not what he was paying me and was therefore making a profit out of the deal.

I started the secondment on the basis of verbal agreements only and never got anything in writing - during the 18 months I had no contact from my original manager and no annual Performance Development Reviews from either my original manager or the manager of the seconded role (who stated that this should have been the duty of my substantive manager). I was recently advised the secondment was finishing and when I reported back to my original manager I was surprised to be told that he had not budgeted for me as he hadn't expected me to come back from secondment and therefore I would be made redundant if after 6 weeks an alternative role could not be found (this time period is almost up and no suitable roles have been offered). Upon talking to my old colleagues I found that whilst on secondment my boss had recruited a new person into what was effectively my old job and that they were not facing redundancy.

My boss has stated that he was given a promise from the manager of the seconded role that this post would eventually be made permanent and that was why he had assumed I would not return but the secondement manager has emailed me to confirm no such formal agreement was ever made. Additionally at no time was I advised that my old post was going to be filled by an external candidate otherwise I would have opted to cease the secondment. What is my position legally? I feel I have a strong case for enhanced redundancy or if not offered an application for an employment tribunal.

Any advice anyone please???

As I'm sure you realise now, you should not have accepted a secondment without something in writing confirming what would happen at the end of it. 18 months is a long time and it would not be unusual for a company not to be able to keep the same job held open and to try and find something else instead.

Did your manager actually say anything to you in terms of 'this secondment is for 18 months only, your job will be kept open for you and at the end of it you will return to your job? Even if it's not in writing, did you actually have that conversation?

If your boss was under the impression that the role would become permanent then that would be why he recruited into it.