Staff Redundancies and Consultation Periods

In a survey conducted by Acas, it has been found that 30% of employers are likely to make staff redundancies over the next year. If your business needs to make redundancies, are you aware of the time you must take to consult your employees?

You must hold meaningful consultations with your employees in redundancy scenarios. The length of the consultation period varies depending on the number of employees you will be making redundant.

For less than 20 redundancies, there is no mandatory consultation period. However, the length of consultation must be "reasonable" for the circumstances.

For 20 to 99 redundancies, the consultation must start at least 30 days before the first redundancy dismissal will occur.

For 100 or more redundancies, this mandatory minimum consultation period increases to 45 days before the first redundancy dismissal.

If you do not abide by these consultation requirements, then an employee may take you to tribunal, and if they are successful you may have to pay up to 90 days' full pay for each affected employee.