Case Study: Redundancy and Term-Time Contracts

We were recently contacted by the Chair of Governors at Woodville Community Pre-School to assist with implementing a redundancy programme. The Pre-School relied on early years funding, which had only been increased very slightly in the last few years. With rising costs on the building that they use, as well as raising the wages of staff to align with the cost of living, unfortunately the setting was forced to shut down. The Pre-School had nine members of staff that all had to be made redundant.

In this specific case, although the nursery setting was closing down, first and foremost a fair and legal redundancy process needed to be followed. This included an initial announcement to all staff explaining the business reasons for closure, and following it up with two separate meaningful redundancy consultations.

When going through the redundancy process, it is important to hold at least one redundancy consultation with each employee individually, to explain the situation fully and allow them to make any suggestions to avoid redundancy or raise any issues that they may have with the process.

Whilst redundancies cases are never easy, a layer of complexity was added as all employees were employed under term-time contracts. This means that they were only contracted to work during term-time, and their holidays were “pre-set” with holiday pay rolled into their monthly salary.

To ensure that employees on term-time contracts are paid consistently every month, annual pay is divided into twelve equal monthly payments. Any additional overtime is paid separately on top of this.

Since term-time contracts can complicate the redundancy process and payment calculations, we decided to hold an additional consultation with each employee individually. This allowed us to explain the pay they were receiving, and how it was calculated. It was crucial to ensure that all employees fully understood and were satisfied with the calculations. This would prevent any potential appeals.

The redundancy process was completed successfully and in a timely and compliant manner, ensuring our client felt confident and satisfied with the outcome.

For redundancy support, please contact us at admin@lansburyhr.co.uk