skills selection criteria

recently redundancies were annouced where i work,the company informed
us that they were under legal obligation to include skills in the selection
criteria, unfortunateley they did not have any previous skills matrix for
personnel so gave everyone 100% for skills which in effect just relied on the
time served portion of the selection criteria.Have they filled their legal
obligation for skills ?

Hi I hope this helps.

This is a way of identifying the employees to be made redundant from the selection pool.

Selection criteria must be objective, reasonable and they must not be discriminatory. It is preferable to include categories which are measurable and which can be backed up by evidence. The categories may include technical knowledge and skills, attendance, sickness or disciplinary records and qualifications. Employers should take care that categories such as attendance, for example, do not discriminate against employees who may be disabled. The criteria must be relevant to the jobs available and must be scored as impartially as possible. If there is a recognised trade union or other employee representatives it is good practice to have the selection criteria approved by them prior to use. Employers should be aware that the employee has a right to see their own scoring in the selection criteria, although they are not entitled to see the scores of other employees. The employer should discuss an employee's individual score in the selection criteria during the consultation meetings.

The employer uses a defined set of selection criteria to assess employees. This will include a number of different categories which define the qualities the employer regards as relevant. The employees will receive a score within a range of, say, 1-5 in each category, based on how closely they match each criterion. Certain criteria may be weighted if they are particularly important to the job. The selection criteria will then be applied to employees in the pool of selection and those who score the lowest will be the ones who are selected for redundancy.

I would say that you should challange the procedure as it has not been applied properly in line with what I have said above.

Iain Lock