Making an employee redundant

The redundancy consultation process

Consultation must start in good time - when redundancy proposals are in their formative stage - and at least:

• 30 days before the first redundancy where there are 20 to 99 proposed redundancies
• 90 days in advance where there are 100 or more proposed redundancies

If you are making 20 or more employees redundant in one place of work within a 90-day period, in addition to consulting with individual employees, you must tell employee representatives or any trade union, if relevant, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) by letter or using form HR1. You can download form HR1 from the DTI website (PDF).

If your employees don't have any representatives, they can elect new ones specifically for the consultation.

If they don't belong to a union and choose not to elect representatives, you must give the relevant information straight to them.

By law, you don't have to consult with representatives if making fewer than 20 people redundant. However, you must consult your employees individually in order to prevent unfair dismissal claims. Since 1 October 2004, statutory discipline and grievance procedures govern this consultation process. Download information about the revised code of practice for disciplinary and grievance procedures from the Acas website (PDF).

Businesses with more than 150 employees must follow the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations. This will apply to businesses with 100 employees from April 2006 and all businesses with 50 or more employees from April 2008. Employees have a statutory right to be informed and consulted about issues such as redundancy, if they request this. You can read advice on the ICE Regulations on the DTI website.

What information must you provide?

At the start of the consultation, you must provide written details of:

• the reasons for redundancies
• the numbers and categories of employees involved
• the numbers of employees in these categories employed at the establishment
• how you plan to select employees for redundancy
• how you will carry out redundancies
• how you will work out redundancy payments

Consultation does not have to end in agreement, but it must be properly carried out with a view to reaching agreement, including ways of avoiding the redundancies or minimising their effect.

Different laws govern Northern Ireland. For information call the Northern Ireland Redundancy Payments Helpline on Tel 0800 585 811.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• What is redundancy?
• Avoiding redundancies
• Staff selection - non-compulsory
• Staff selection - compulsory
• The redundancy consultation process
• Rights of redundant employees
• How to help redundant employees
• Potential problems following redundancy

 

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