Making staff redundant

Overview

Redundancy is when you dismiss an employee because you no longer need anyone to do their job. This might be because your business is:

• changing what it does
• doing things in a different way, for example using new machinery
• changing location or closing down

For a redundancy to be genuine, you must demonstrate that the employee’s job will no longer exist.

Redundancies can be compulsory or non-compulsory. If you do have to make redundancies you can get help from Jobcentre Plus.

Employee rights

Employees have certain rights and may be entitled to redundancy pay if they’re made redundant.

All employees under notice of redundancy have the right to:

• reasonable time off to look for a new job or arrange training
• not be unfairly selected for redundancy

You should always take steps to avoid redundancies before dismissing staff.

Alternative employment

Employers must try to find suitable alternative employment within the organisation for employees they’ve made redundant.

Employees can try out an alternative role for 4 weeks (or more if agreed in writing) without giving up their right to redundancy pay.