Urgent Appeal deadline question- please help if you can! Thank you.

Hello everyone,

This is urgent as I need to know whether I have to put in an appeal now or not..

I was put 'at risk of redundancy' last week. With this I received a 'notification of potential redundancy' letter. In the company policy (copied below) it implies that I have 5 days to make an appeal once I have received written confirmation of 'the decision'. I expected this to refer to a letter saying I was actually redundant, which I haven't received yet. I've since thought perhaps it means the letter I have already received. How is one to interpret 'the decision'- the decision to put me at risk of redundancy or the decision to actually make me redundant? Given that today is would've been the last day to appeal if the former is the case, wht should i do?

Thank you so much in advance for advice on the matter.


Where an employee’s position remains at risk of redundancy, they will be invited to a formal meeting. At this meeting the employee again has the right to be accompanied by an employee of PB or a trade union representative. (If appropriate) the employee will be given a copy of their scores, together with an explanation for those scores. The employee will also be given the opportunity to challenge his/her scores.

6.10 Once it is confirmed that redundancy will occur individuals will be given formal written notice of termination in accordance with contractual entitlements and outlining any redundancy payment and leaving arrangements.

Employees will also be informed of any monies owing to them for their final payroll, equally, they will be advised if any deductions will be necessary i.e. transitional loans, PB Choices etc. Employees will be provided with a Leaver Information Sheet which outlines the arrangements for their final payment.

6.11 All employees have the right to appeal against their redundancy. The appeal must be made to the Human Resources Director. The appeal must be made within 5 working days of receiving written confirmation of the decision, stating the grounds on which the appeal is based.

Btw, the reason I am confused is that the policy above implies that 'the decision' refers to the confirmation of actual redundancy, whereas I've read on the internet that usually, companies give 5 days after the individual consultation, which would tie in with the first letter that I received last week. Hence the contradiction and confusion.

You shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. There's a lot of rubbish out there! You appeal the notification of redundancy - if you are selected! Otherwise there is nothing to appeal. You can't appeal being at risk, because that isn't a decision to terminate. Depending on how the company handle it, they may tell you that you will be made redundant (or not) at the meeting to discuss your scores. Others may have a meetings to discuss the scores to give you an opportunity to disagree with anything you think wrong, and if necessary to adjust scores before the final decision.

But that's just it- I have been selected and scored- I scored the lowest and so was selected out of three to be 'put at risk' which basically meant I was redundant unless I was able to successfully apply to another job within the company. I've had the meeting where we discuss the scores with the opportunity to disagree.. does this change your answer at all?

Thanks by the way.

You haven't had confirmation of your redundancy or any official termination letter as the original letter you quote says you will. So at this point there is nothing to appeal, you haven't yet been dismissed. The letter says you should appeal within 5 days of written confirmation of the decision to make you redundant, and you haven't had that yet.

Yes, I agree with Eleanor here. The appeal is against the redundancy, and you are still, despite having been selected, at risk. And you remain at risk until you are told that you are redundant. It isn't unheard of for situations to change and people at risk don't get made redundant. There are even cases of people who have been given official notice of their redundancy having it withdrawn during notice because situations have changed. Not often, but often enough to not be out of the question. But did you agree with the scores? Because in the end, that is one of the two big questions (the other being whether there are suitable alternative jobs).

Ok, perfect answers. Thanks both of you.
Yes I did disagree with/ challenge the scores, verbally. I don't think they paid too much attention though, the HR person responded by saying they feel they have justification for the scores etc etc. I intend to appeal on the same basis in writing then, when the time comes. One appeal will be the scores. The other will be the fact that I had work lined up (redundancy reasons were lack of work) and that on the company website they are actually advertising multiple positions of the same role!

I wonder if you know whether the 2 year rule (with re to redundancy package) applies to the time up to when they give you the letter of redundancy or when your notice period ends. The reason I ask is that I am coming up to 1 yr 11months service and I get a one month notice period....

It applies from the date that your employment ends - for what it is worth, because it won't be much. Provided it is not PILON (pay n lieu of notice) in which case the date is the actual date of termination plus one week statutory notice.

But this does change the advice. If the company are advertising for the same role as you currently do and intend to recruit, then this cannot be a redundancy. You must query this in writing (as evidence). If they make you redundant and employ someone else in the role role simultaneously, that would make for a claim of unfair dismissal. But you obviously have to be able to demonstrate that they are actually recruiting and that this isn't just an old job advert that hasn't been on the site for ages and just hasn't been taken down.

Ok. I will definitely query this in wirting once they confirm my redundancy. In terms of demonstrating it's a current advert, I can try and contact whoever maintains the website and ask how often it is updated, that will have to suffice. As soon as I put it in writing, there's every chance they will just take the advert down though. If they offer a compromise agreement based on my arguements of unfair redundancy/dismissal, is there an obvious range of fair redundancy package amounts I should expect do you think?
Thanks.

I think you may be misunderstanding the process here. Consultation is a two way process and goes on for the whole of the at risk period - and there is no reason why it cannot continue after having received notice of redundancy. You, as much as your employer, should be doing everything you can to make your arguments if you believe that there are other options or something unfair going on. It isn't the case that there is a specific point in the process at which you pile everything in and hope for the best. You need to be speaking to your managers.