Urgent advice required ahead of meeting this friday...

I am 29 and have been working for a company for three and a half years. I received a letter last Friday advising me that 1 out of 2 jobs in my department is to be selected for redundancy and outlined the following 3 options:
Voluntary Redundancy (Advised that the extra incentive would be 2 week additional pay which equates to £500)
Provide a workable solution such as job share (but my colleague has said that she wouldn't consider this as she couldn't afford her outgoings on reduced pay)
Compulsory redundancy selection procedure (where I have to attend a meeting on friday to discuss my skills etc)

I feel very annoyed with the way the company has dealt with different departments seperately over the last 4/5 months, reducing some worker's hours, making some positions redundant whilst also creating new posts (Some filled by temp staff with no previous experience of the industry) which I was not made aware of before I recieved my letter last week - This is all the more shocking considering directors thought nothing of spending thousands for staff to have a posh Xmas Dinner & free bar last December.

Due to attend a meeting to discuss my skill set, attendance record etc on Friday afternoon and have today been advised by HR manager that I will learn the outcome the same afternoon so it feels like they have already made their mind up and are just doing it to go through the motions but will keep you all posted of the outcome.

Have so far only been given a blank sheet with the selection criteria that they are going to use which includes: Reliability, Disciplinary Record, Length of Service, Skills, Attitude and Previous Performance. My understanding is that they will have completed the criteria sheet with relevant points ready for Friday and go through each category and how they have attributed the scores that same afternoon.

Planning on challenging use of "Length of Service" due to age discrimination and "Reliability" and "Attitude" due to them being vague categories with no real, fair or consistant means of scoring especially seeing that I have not attended a appraisal for over a year. Would also be good to know whether I should query length of consultation period being 7 days rather than 30 or whether i should raise it together with other points during the appeal.

Clause in recently edited staff handbook states: Nothing in these terms and conditions of employment shall prevent the company from terminating your employment without notice or salary in lieu of notice in appropriate circumstances.

Can any one advise if this is legal??
What could be deemed as appropriate circumstances??
and
Am I bound to this policy when I have never previously been made aware of any edition of the staff handbook and never been made to sign anything which confirms that I have read or understood it?? Surely it goes against the statutory minimum guidelines regarding redundancy payment and notice periods set out by BERR, CAB and ACAS??

Can a company give employees a consultation period as short as a week?
If selected, What documentation such as a reference, financial breakdown of redundancy payment, P45 etc I should expect to receive?
Am I entitled to information regarding other redundancies and any new posts created in other departments / UK sites over the last 90 days and whats the best way of going about it?

I am feeling very anxious and upset about the situation and would be grateful for any other general advice and information about help or re-training opportunities that may be available to me.

Hi Miggles76. I am sorry to hear about your situation at work and I will answer as fully as I can using the facts you have supplied. Sorry that this answer is a bit long winded.

Consultation and Selection Criteria:

From what I gather, there is just 1 person to be made redundant from the company. To clarify, there is no minimum statutory consultation period when making less than 20 employees redundant. It is only when 20 20–99 employees are to be made redundant that a 30 day consultation period applies.
That said, redundancy consultation for all redundancies is necessary as an absolute minimum, organisations must follow the three key steps of the statutory disciplinary and dismissal procedure.

The consultation process should be fair and genuine and you should have the opportunity to express your views and put forward proposals for avoiding the redundancy. The selection criteria should be consistent, objective and fair. It is common for criterion to be applied such as in your case (disciplinary record, attendance, performance etc). It is up to your employer which reasons they use, as long as they can show that they are fair. The criteria that you are selected for redundancy against should be measurable.

Criterion like reliability can be difficult to measure objectively and may be discriminatory against women. The same applies for Last in First out (LIFO) following Age Discrimination and is also outdated method of sole selection, which can amount to unlawful indirect discrimination against women returning to work after child care. I would also say though that a tribunal would view some subjective criteria as acceptable IF there were was a balance with objective criteria.

If you are unhappy with the selection criteria, I would advise you to discuss this during your consultation or if you are dismissed, appeal against the decision.
One of the main purposes of the consultation process is to consider other employment for you within the company or with any associated employers. They should be establishing what vacancies exist for you. It is up to you to decide if the work is suitable to you.

Notice:

With regards to the handbook which now says “Nothing in these terms and conditions of employment shall prevent the company from terminating your employment without notice or salary in lieu of notice in appropriate circumstances”.

Firstly, if your employer has changed your terms and conditions without your agreement, there may have been a unilateral variation of your contract which is a potential breach of contract, unless you’re individual contract is governed by a collective arrangement.

There is a legal obligation for your employer to give notice. Your employer has the right to dismiss you without notice (summary dismissal) if you've committed gross misconduct but this would not apply to redundancy. The amount of notice should be set out in your contract with your employer or the staff handbook. If not, there are statutory notice periods that apply. If your employer doesn’t require that you work out your notice they can make a ‘payment in lieu of notice’ (PILON). Pay in lieu of notice is money paid to you as an alternative to being given your full notice.
If you are dismissed and are not given proper notice (e.g. you're told that your employment is to end straight away), you should ask for PILON.

I hope this has helped. Redundancy is a stressful situation and I hope alternative employment is found or you and your employer find a way to avoid the redundancy

Keep is updated with your situation or return if you have any further questions after your meeting. Your experience helps other too.

Many thanks for the advice - Hope issues raised together with answers help others in similar position so will keep in touch regarding outcome.

To clarify earlier posting though - company has staggered redundancy procedure from early 2008 to late 2008 & start of 2009 - suspiciously appears that they are doing it to avoid need to elect representatives and provide 30 day consultation period. Have been trying to add up number of redundancies that have been carried out and I am sure there is at least 15+ within last 90 days but not sure about other staff losses at different UK site, would therefore appreciate advice on whether a direct question should be asked with regards to how many posts were made redundant in last 90 days together with information about what new posts were created within same period.

Can appreciate what you advised regarding criteria but table provided is not the most straightforward ie) If you are deemed as having a very good attitude you are awarded 10 points, good attitude and its 5, Average is 2 with poor at 0...all seems bizarre considering it is subjective and there is no way of measuring it fairly/consistantly. Would appreciate advice about whether I should challenge certain selection criteria tomorrow when I hand in my decision regarding voluntary, alternative solution or putting myself forward to redundancy pool or whether i should raise it during meeting on friday afternoon OR appeal if I decide to take the matter further.

Having reading through letter again - HR manager has already stipulated that there is no further employment in any area of the business so looks highly unlikely that a position will turn up unless they get panicky about appeal or possible tribunal when I start asking them some direct questions.