Redundancy Policy

It is important to have clear redundancy policies in place which avoid any risk of discrimination and which conform with statutory requirements.

Redundancy applies when the employer stops the sort or location of business for which you employed staff, or you have less demand for the work those employees do.  ACAS gives the formal definition as:-

"Employees are entitled to redundancy payments if they are dismissed due to one of the following:

• the employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was so employed
• the employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business in the place where the employee was so employed
• the requirements of the business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind has ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish
• the requirements of the business for the employees to carry out work of a particular kind, in the place where they were so employed, has ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish."

There are additional requirements on the employer when significant numbers of employees (20 or more) are to be made redundant in a short space of time (less than 90 days).

Redundancy policies and procedures need to include selection criteria, consultation processes and levels of redundancy payments that will be made.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and Business Link have useful guidance that complements that available through ACAS.  See our Links page.

 

 

< Prev		Next >