When considering making redundancies, you must follow a fair and legally sound process. What will be deemed ‘fair’ depends on several factors, including how many employees’ roles are affected by your proposals. Whatever process you follow, consulting with the affected employees is crucial. The consultation process often involves several meetings with the relevant employees or their representatives. Here, we discuss how a redundancy process usually proceeds and how the 2nd consultation meeting in redundancy fits in.
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What Is The Redundancy Process?
A very general overview of the redundancy process is as follows:
- Confirm that redundancies are necessary.
- Identify the appropriate redundancy process.
- Inform your employees that you are considering making redundancies.
- Hold consultations with those affected.
- Select the employees to be made redundant.
- Calculate the redundancy pay due to those selected.
- Give notice to those selected.
- Hear any appeals.
The precise process you must follow will depend on whether you have any internal policies and the number of employees potentially affected by your proposals. Our specialist HR advisors will review your plans and devise a fair strategy that accords with the applicable law.
What Is The Purpose Of A Consultation In Redundancy?
The purpose of a consultation is just as it suggests; it is your opportunity to consult with the employees affected about your proposals. At all stages of a consultation, you should seek the employee’s feedback and suggestions on your plans and answer their questions. If an employee has ideas about how you might avoid having to make redundancies or how you can reduce the number of employees affected or the impact of your action, you should give those suggestions serious consideration.
What Happens At A 2nd Consultancy Meeting Regarding Redundancy?
When you have identified a business need to make redundancies and informed your employees of that fact, you will begin consulting with those affected. In some cases, one consultation meeting may suffice in ensuring your process is fair and lawful but, usually, two or more meetings are required to explore all options and facilitate your making a fair and balanced decision. For example, you may need to hold a 2nd consultancy meeting regarding redundancy to discuss your conclusions on any counter-proposals put forward by the employee.
Once you have completed your initial consultations, you will move on to selecting the employees for redundancy. When doing so, it is essential to measure each employee against a list of objective and measurable criteria.
Examples of common criteria used by employers when selecting individuals for redundancy include the following:
- The employee’s performance.
- The employee’s skill set.
- The employee’s experience.
- The employee’s attendance record.
- Whether the employee has been subject to any disciplinary procedures.
You can tailor the value you place on each selection criteria to your organisation’s needs. For example, you may choose to place more significance on one criterion, such as performance, than on others, such as attendance. By allocating more points to performance than to attendance, an employee with excellent performance may be able to score higher than one with poorer performance but a better attendance record. You should keep notes of how you reached your decision regarding each criterion for each employee, with evidence where appropriate.
Once you have assessed each employee against your selection criteria and selected those you intend to make redundant, you should hold further consultation meetings to discuss the outcome of your selection process. If the employee has been selected for redundancy, you should explain how they scored and why they have been chosen. You cannot share details of other employees’ scores with them, but you can show how others fared, provided you keep the details anonymous.
Once you are satisfied that there are no further issues to resolve and that the employees selected for redundancy are appropriate, you should give them notice of their redundancy at a meeting and in writing, together with the following information:
- Their notice period.
- The date on which their employment with you will end.
- How much redundancy pay they will receive and how it has been calculated.
- Any additional payments you will be making to them.
- Their right of appeal and the applicable process.
You should also talk the employee through any other relevant matters, such as whether you propose making a payment in lieu of notice or placing the employee on garden leave.
The redundancy process can be complex and arduous and is full of traps for the unwary. If you are unsure of your legal obligations, it’s essential to take advice from specialists like us to ensure you undertake the process fairly and avoid unfair dismissal proceedings.
Call us now on 01491 598 600 or email us on cw@gaphr.co.uk and we will be delighted to help you.
