risk of redundancy Advice?

I have recently been informed that I am at risk of redundancy and am currently in the consultation period. I have some worries on the selection criteria being used in relation to my contract. I work for a public organisation that offers identical services at two sites in the same neighbourhood. My contract specifies the general department and has no site specific information attached to it. My site is closing down in a few months whereas the other site is not. Colleagues having the same contract as mine but working at the other site are not subject to the “risk of redundancy” procedure. Since my contract is not site specific I am not clear as to why the procedure does not apply to everyone? Any advice/suggestions would be really welcome. Thanks! --- Jean

This is going to sound like the most obvious advice in the book, but it's the one you (and just about everyone else!) has missed - ask! The point of the consultation period is to ask the employer questions exactly this basic, and to get an answer or explanation or a change to the process. There are some really grotty employers out there - but the fact is that most employers hate making redundancies as much as you do, and may overlook obvious things just as easily as you might. When you have an answer it might be obvious that they have some explanation that is valid. Or they might go "Oh sh!t - never thought of that". Or anywhere in between. But the "legal advice" comes after this engagement, not before, because we couldn't possibly know what the answer might be! So don't treat the consultation as a one-way process and ask all the awkward or stupid questions you want - that is what it is there for. As much as this can help make sure the employer gets it right, it may also help you to understand what is going on. This is as much in your interests as anyone elses. If something untoward is happening then you can highlight it, and if ignored, you can go to war. But any point of "unfairness" which you go to war on must have been riased with the employer first, so you need to get your concerns or questions out there in the open. Then comes back if the answers don't work for you.