Consultation - your rights

You have rights and one of those rights is giving you as an employee the chance to influence the process.  It "should"offer an aim of joint negotiation - seeing if there is absolutely any alternative to redundancy.

Go with an open mind.  If you can offer options that bring in savings to the company, you are a valued employee and less likely to be up for the chop.

But if you can't conjure up a magic solution, don't worry - but still participate.  You need to know what's going on.   What  happens now can affect your ability to claim benefit.  And remember, keep calm, no matter how hard it is.

When does consultation start?

Consultation must start at least:

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

What if my employer does not offer consultation?


You may claim a protective award from an employment tribunal  if: -

• the consultation does not begin early enough (see above)
• there is no consultation
• employees do not get chance to reflect appropriately

An Employment Tribunal could make a ‘protective award’ of up to 90 days' pay for each affected employee. The amount will be decided by the Employment Tribunal, based on the extent of your employer’s failure and the circumstances.

Consultation with individuals - less than 20 redundancies

If your employer is making less than 20 employees redundant in one organisation, it is an individual consultation.  This will normally involve:

• speaking to you directly about why you have been selected
• looking at any alternatives to redundancy

If this doesn't happen, your dismissal for redundancy may be unfair.


Collective consultation - 20 or more redundancies

If your employer is making 20 or more employees redundant in one establishment within a 90 day period it is a collective redundancy.

Collective redundancies generally occur when there is a:

• business or building closure, meaning your employer no longer needs as many employees
• reorganisation or reallocation of work often due to economic changes

As with individual consultation, the failure to consult with an employee may mean that the dismissal is unfair.


Consultation process

The consultation must be meaningful. It must be genuine and conducted with a view to reaching an agreement. It must cover:

• ways to avoid redundancies
• the reasons for redundancies
• how to keep the number of dismissals to a minimum
• how to limit the effects on those dismissed (eg by offering retraining)
• whether there are alternative jobs available within the organisation (ie redeployment)

There may be special circumstances where it is not reasonably practical for your employer to consult fully. In these circumstances your employer must do everything they can to ensure that the consultation is as full as possible.


Consultation - how long will it last?

A termination notice tells you when the last day of your employment will be, eg the day you will be made redundant. Termination notices cannot be issued until after the consultation has been completed, even if the consultation needs to go beyond the minimum period.

If the consultation is genuinely completed within the minimum period you may be issued with a termination notice. This cannot take effect until after the minimum consultation period ends unless you agree to leave early, for example by taking pay in lieu of notice.

A consultation must begin ‘in good time’ and take as long as is necessary. It should be conducted with a view to reaching agreement, but can end before agreement is reached. Your employer should give your reps a fair opportunity to comment on the proposals and suggest alternatives, to which your employer should give genuine consideration. The final decision rests with your employer.

There is no time limit to how long a consultation period may last.

Your employer’s duty to notify the government

If, within a 90 day period, 20 or more redundancies are proposed, your employer must notify the appropriate Redundancy Payments Office of the proposals before any termination notices are sent to employees.

This notification must be at least 30 days before any dismissal takes effect, and if 100 or more redundancies are proposed, at least 90 days before any dismissal takes effect.

This is to allow the government to prepare help for those made redundant by alerting the local Job Centre Plus so it can provide advice on retraining or re-employment to affected employees.

Notifying is part of the consultation process. Your employer must also provide a copy of the notification to your reps. If your employer does not notify the government correctly then they can be fined.