Redundancy Policy and Procedure - January 2024

Procedures

Consultation

It is good practice to consult all employees affected and the recognised Trade Unions as early as possible.

The People Services Manager will make the appropriate notification to the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service where the number of collective redundancies exceeds 20 at one establishment.

Statutory consultation periods will be followed for redundancies involving 20 or more employees. This can be anything between 30 and 45 days to commence on an agreed date following consultation with recognised trades unions. Contact your HR team for advice.

In calculating the numbers of employees involved, voluntary redundancies and redeployees are included in the total, e.g., if there are proposals to make 17 employees redundant and redeploy a further 5, the total number is over 20 so collective consultation periods apply.

If an employee is on a fixed term contract which is coming to the end of its agreed duration, the employee is not included in the calculation. However, if the proposal is to dismiss the fixed term employees earlier than the date agreed within the 90-day period (and the reason is redundancy) the fixed term contracts are included in the count for collective redundancies. (Please see Temporary/Fixed Term Contracts Guidance)

Individuals have the right under dismissal procedures to be advised in writing of the reason for dismissal i.e., redundancy; meet to discuss the reasons and a right of appeal. Different arrangements may apply in collective redundancy situations, as agreed locally with trade unions/staff representatives.

Individuals and recognised trade unions will be consulted directly and via recognised consultation mechanisms such as the Corporate Employee Relations Forum. As much information as possible relating to the proposed reorganisation or down-sizing and its impact on employees will be provided at each meeting, as appropriate.

Restructuring Policy

Prior to selection criteria being drawn up, the Authority’s Restructuring Policy and Procedure should be applied.

The Restructuring Policy and Procedure should be applied objectively, and results presented by the Director or nominated Head of Service/Lead Manager to the Trade Unions and affected employees.

Selection for Redundancy

Where possible, volunteers for redundancy will be asked to come forward. (See paragraph 9).

Where the number of volunteers exceeds the number of redundant posts or if the volunteer route is not appropriate, then redundancy selection criteria will apply.

Redundancy criteria will be drawn up in consultation with recognised Trade Unions and will be agreed by the relevant Director (or their nominated representative) and Assistant Chief Executive (People Management) or their nominated representative. Care must be taken in agreeing criteria to ensure that it is not directly or indirectly discriminatory.

Example: Redundancy selection criteria is drawn up to include age and absence from work. An employee is selected for redundancy because they have had a long period of absence due illness. However, the employee has a disability which relates directly to this absence, and this must be taken into account, or this would be directly discriminatory. Another employee is selected for redundancy as they are nearing retirement age – this is also likely to be discriminatory. Commonly used selection criteria³ includes:

• Skills or experience
• Standard of work performance or aptitude for work (with reference to appraisals)
• Attendance (excluding absences relating to disability, pregnancy or maternity) or disciplinary record.

All potentially redundant employees should be assessed against the agreed redundancy selection criteria, and this should be documented, and individuals advised of the outcome as soon as possible. This may include interviewing employees and assessment against the agreed selection criteria.

Employees have a right of appeal against the outcome of the selection process.

All employees affected will be advised in writing and will be offered possible redeployment in accordance with the Authority’s Redeployment Policy.

There may be circumstances where the use of selection criteria is not appropriate, for example where one post only is affected, and in these cases, departments are advised to move straight to seeking suitable alternative employment via the Redeployment Policy.

Suitable Alternative Employment (SAE)

Suitable alternative employment will be sought in line with the Redeployment Policy which will offer employees the opportunity to be considered for jobs within the authority prior to open advertisement.

The Council is obliged to offer suitable alternative employment where it is available to an employee whose position becomes redundant following notification of pregnancy, during or after ordinary and/or additional maternity leave, ordinary and/or additional adoption leave or shared parental leave. This means that such an employee will be offered a suitable alternative vacancy as it arises and before any other employee whose job is also redundant but who has not notified the Authority for one of these reasons. This applies even where the vacancy arises before the employee has notified the Authority of their intended date of return and during a period as set out in Appendix 1 from return to work.

Employees and their managers should work together to identify and consider all potential alternative posts. If an employee unreasonably refuses an offer of suitable alternative employment, s/he may lose his/her entitlement to redundancy pay.

Employees should be advised by their manager to consider any offers of redeployment seriously and should investigate the pay offered, potential for additional earnings if the basic pay is lower than the current post, affect on pension, location and additional travel expenses or travelling time, working environment and hours of work, e.g. day work, shift work, etc.

If the offer of suitable alternative employment differs materially from the employees’ current employment, they have the right to a trial period of four weeks (or longer up to a maximum of 12 weeks, if agreed by the employer). The trial period begins no later than when the previous contract has ended, i.e. at the end of the contractual notice period. This gives the employee the chance to decide whether the job is suitable without losing the right to a redundancy payment.

If the trial period is successful from the employee and employer’s perspective, employment in the new post will be confirmed and the right to a redundancy payment will be lost. If however, the trial period is not successful, the employer may end the new contract and the employee will be entitled to their redundancy payment. However, employees who unreasonably refuse suitable alternative employment may lose any entitlement to redundancy pay. It should be noted that if the dismissal was due to a reason unconnected with redundancy e.g. gross misconduct, the employee may lose their entitlement to redundancy pay.

In collective redundancy situations, consideration should be given to supporting employees to find alternative employment outside the Authority via Job Centre Plus or by contacting other employers.

Support should also be given, where appropriate, to employees to help with job search, completing application forms, interview techniques etc. Managers should seek advice from Corporate Learning & Development Team and/or the HR Team, as appropriate

Time off with pay will be given to employees during their notice period to look for work or retraining opportunities. Requests for time off should be made to the line manager in line with the Council’s Time Off Policy.

Employees must accept SAE on the basis on which it is offered. There are no salary/conditions protection arrangements.

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 ³ACAS Advisory Booklet How to Manage Collective Redundancies

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