Redundancy and Business Reorganisation
Redundancy is one of the five potentially fair reasons for dismissing an employee under UK employment law. However, redundancy is not always the only solution when a business needs to restructure. With the right planning, communication, and process, it may be possible to achieve organisational change without job losses, or while reducing the risk of dispute and disruption.
At Thrive Law, we support employers and employees through all stages of redundancy and business reorganisation, taking both a commercial and human approach to what is often a sensitive time.
Our Approach: Strategic, Practical and People-Focused
We work with employers from the outset to help shape and manage a fair, transparent and well-structured process. This often includes:
- Reviewing the business rationale for change
- Identifying alternatives to redundancy (such as amended hours, revised duties, redeployment or lay-off arrangements)
- Helping design fair and legally compliant selection criteria
- Supporting communication planning and consultation
- Ensuring documentation and correspondence is clear, accurate and consistent
- Protecting morale, reputation and trust throughout the process
Our aim is to help you make necessary business decisions while treating employees with dignity and respect, reducing the likelihood of grievances or Employment Tribunal claims.
If you are looking for initial guidance, we also offer a comprehensive Redundancy Guide, including step-by-step instructions, legal considerations, and template letters and forms that can be used throughout the process.
When Redundancy Cannot Be Avoided
Sometimes, despite exploring alternatives, redundancy becomes necessary. In these circumstances, the law requires employers to follow a fair procedure, which generally includes:
- Providing clear rationale for the redundancy situation
- Meaningful consultation (individual and collective where applicable)
- Fair and objective selection criteria
- Considering suitable alternative roles
- Allowing employees the right of appeal
We help employers manage each of these stages smoothly and professionally, reducing stress and risk.
Risks of Getting Redundancy Wrong
If redundancy is not genuine, or if the process is not handled fairly, employees may bring a claim for unfair dismissal. Common pitfalls include:
- Failing to consider or offer suitable alternative roles
- Using an unfair, inconsistent, or discriminatory scoring or selection system
- Predetermining outcomes before consultation has taken place
- Treating employees differently without justification
- Not following the organisation’s own procedures or ACAS Code
- Poor documentation or unclear communication
If the redundancy process impacts employees with protected characteristics (e.g., disability, pregnancy, age), there is also a risk of discrimination claims, which can significantly increase compensation.
Thrive Law can guide you through each step to avoid these issues and ensure fairness, clarity and compliance.
Redundancy Support for Employees
If you are facing redundancy, we can help you understand:
- Whether the redundancy situation is genuine
- If the consultation has been fair
- Whether selection criteria or scoring may be discriminatory
- Your rights to alternative employment, redundancy pay and notice pay
- Whether it may be appropriate to raise a grievance or bring a claim
We offer clear, practical guidance to help you navigate what can be a very emotional and uncertain process.
Get in Touch
Whether you are an employer planning organisational change or an employee facing redundancy, we are here to support you.
Contact us at enquiries@thrivelaw.co.uk to discuss how we can help.
We will work with you to achieve a fair, lawful and compassionate outcome.
A genuine redundancy exists where the need for employees to do work of a particular kind has ceased or diminished, or is expected to. This covers three situations:
- the employer is closing the business entirely;
- the employer is closing the specific site where the employee works; or
- the employer needs fewer people to carry out a certain type of work, even if the business itself continues.
The word “genuine” matters. Redundancy can’t be used as cover for dismissing someone for another reason (such as performance or a personal conflict). A dismissal dressed up as redundancy but isn’t may be unfair, and employees who challenge it tend to succeed where the selection process or rationale doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
The minimum steps are: identifying the pool of employees at risk; applying fair and objective selection criteria; giving appropriate notice; consulting individually with those at risk; and considering suitable alternative employment within the business before dismissing. Cutting any of these steps creates legal exposure even where the redundancy itself is genuine.
Where 20 or more employees are being made redundant at one establishment within 90 days, there are also collective consultation obligations: 30 days’ consultation for between 20 and 99 redundancies, and 45 days for 100 or more. Failure to comply can result in a protective award of up to 90 days’ gross pay per affected employee. Our team regularly advises on redundancy and restructuring.
Employees with two or more years’ continuous service are entitled to statutory redundancy pay, calculated by reference to age, length of service and weekly pay (subject to a statutory cap). They’re also entitled to their contractual notice (or payment in lieu), and to reasonable paid time off to look for alternative work during the notice period.
Beyond pay, employees have the right to be consulted individually, to be considered for suitable alternative roles, and to appeal the redundancy decision. If an employee is offered a suitable alternative and unreasonably refuses it, they may lose their entitlement to redundancy pay, but this is only in certain circumstances and should not be relied upon. Under ERA 2025, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal reduces to six months from January 2027, which will also affect redundancy-related claims going forward.
Yes. If the redundancy wasn’t genuine, the selection process was unfair, there wasn’t proper consultation, or a suitable alternative role was available but not offered, you can bring an unfair dismissal claim at the Employment Tribunal. The time limit is currently three months less one day from your effective date of termination (or six months after October 2026), so don’t delay in taking advice.
Some employees are also protected from being selected for redundancy because of specific characteristics: pregnancy, maternity leave, family leave, whistleblowing, or trade union activity. Selection for redundancy based on any of these is automatically unfair, with no qualifying period required. Get in touch with our team here.
