You identify a role you may no longer need, then finance budgets for the saving. But redundancy consultation must start before you’ve made the final decision, with a genuine opportunity for employees to influence the outcome.
When the budget, departure date and replacement structure are already fixed, individual meetings become difficult to defend. Keep the proposal at a formative stage and build the redundancy process around a timetable that leaves room to change it.
Key takeaways
These rules cover Great Britain. Northern Ireland has separate employment legislation.
- Provide individual consultation to every affected employee, whether you propose one redundancy or 50.
- Collective consultation applies when 20 or more redundancies are proposed at one establishment within 90 days.
- Below that threshold, there’s no fixed minimum consultation period. Meaningful consultation gives employees enough time to understand the proposal, challenge it and suggest alternatives.
1. Set the redundancy consultation timetable
Count proposed dismissals across a rolling 90-day period. Separate announcements or departmental budgets don’t automatically create separate exercises. Your human resources, operations and finance teams need the same timetable.
The minimum collective consultation lead times depend on the numbers proposed.
| Proposed redundancies at one establishment | Consultation must begin | HR1 notification deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 20 | No fixed statutory minimum | Usually not required |
| 20 to 99 within 90 days | At least 30 days before the first dismissal | At least 30 days before the first dismissal |
| 100 or more within 90 days | At least 45 days before the first dismissal | At least 45 days before the first dismissal |
These periods run backwards from when the first dismissal takes effect. Reaching day 30 or 45 doesn’t excuse unfinished consultation.
For collective cases, consult the recognised trade union for affected employees. Otherwise, use existing representatives whose authority covers the exercise, or properly elected employee representatives.
Provide employee representatives with written information early enough for them to review it, consult those they represent and raise questions. It should cover the reasons, numbers and roles affected, selection method, dismissal timetable and redundancy payment calculation method.
Submit form HR1 to the Redundancy Payments Service within the applicable deadline and before issuing dismissal notices. Give representatives a copy. The government’s HR1 notification guidance explains these duties.
Collective redundancy consultation runs alongside individual meetings. It doesn’t replace them.
2. Prepare the proposal and selection process
Explain the business case in writing
Record the business problem, the proposed structure and the savings or operational changes you’re seeking. Separate the decision to explore redundancies from any final decision about dismissing an employee.
Your invitation should explain that the employee’s role is at risk, why you’re considering redundancy and what the meeting will cover. Share relevant information early enough for them to prepare.
An employee can’t give a useful response to figures they first see across the meeting table. Give them time to understand the proposal before asking for their views.
Keep the pool and scores provisional
Explain the selection pool, meaning the group of employees considered for the remaining roles. A single-person pool can be appropriate, but record why comparable roles aren’t included.
Use objective criteria supported by evidence. Share the employee’s provisional scores and the reasons behind them, with enough information to challenge errors.
Don’t treat pregnancy-related absence, disability-related absence or protected leave as ordinary attendance failures. Employment protection includes discrimination rights that don’t depend on two years’ service.
Keep the pool, criteria and scores open to challenge during consultation.
3. Hold individual meetings that can change the outcome
Start with reasons, evidence and questions
At the first consultation meeting, explain why the role is at risk, how selection works and what alternatives you’ve identified. Cover available support and the employee’s questions about the process.
Ask whether the work could be organised differently, whether the selection information is accurate and whether other vacancies might be suitable. The government’s redundancy consultation guidance describes discussing reasons and alternatives with employees.
Listen before defending the proposal. An employee may identify work you’ve overlooked, an incorrect score or an alternative that achieves the required saving.
You don’t have to accept every suggestion. You do have to consider it properly.
Reconvene after considering responses
Plan for at least a couple of individual meetings with each affected employee. Employment law doesn’t prescribe a universal number, and unresolved questions may require more.
Use the gap between meetings to investigate suggestions, review evidence and answer questions. At the next meeting, explain what you’ve accepted, what you’ve rejected and why.
If an employee challenges a score, review the evidence before confirming selection. Recording the challenge without investigating it doesn’t resolve the issue.
Don’t impose the same timetable on everyone where absence, disability or access to information requires an adjustment.
4. Test alternatives before confirming redundancy
Consider vacancies and other working arrangements
Discuss recruitment freezes, voluntary redundancy, redeployment and agreed reductions in hours where these could address the business problem. Record why each realistic option would or wouldn’t work.
Keep reviewing vacancies during consultation and before employment ends. Suitable alternative employment depends on the role, pay, location, hours and the employee’s circumstances.
Qualifying pregnant employees and employees taking or returning from certain family leave have priority rights to suitable alternative vacancies. Treat those rights separately from competitive selection.
A statutory four-week trial period normally applies where an employee accepts alternative employment on different terms. Explain the arrangement before it starts.
Explain payments, support and appeal
Give employees a clear breakdown of statutory or contractual redundancy pay, notice pay and accrued holiday pay. Our redundancy calculator for employers supports these calculations, but figures don’t replace consultation.
Explain any available outplacement support, training or employee assistance. Employees with qualifying service may also have paid time off to look for work or arrange training.
Complete consultation before issuing a dismissal notice. If redundancy remains necessary, confirm the reasons, termination arrangements and appeal process in writing.
Consultation lead times and notice entitlements are separate requirements. Budget for both.
5. Keep records that explain the decision
Keep the business rationale, proposed structure, selection criteria, scoring evidence, correspondence and meeting notes together. Record alternatives considered, responses given and any changes made after consultation.
Meeting notes should distinguish what the employee said from the employer’s response. Share them promptly and record any corrections or disagreements.
Common mistakes create gaps between what happened and what you can later demonstrate.
- Setting departure dates that leave no time to investigate employee proposals.
- Using unsupported descriptions such as “attitude” or “flexibility” instead of evidence-based selection criteria.
- Sending a final decision letter while questions about scoring or alternative roles remain unanswered.
Good records won’t repair a predetermined decision. They help demonstrate a fair process and explain why the eventual outcome was reasonable.
If a tribunal claim follows, you need more than a diary entry showing that meetings took place.
What case law and the April 2026 change mean
Small exercises don’t automatically require workforce-wide consultation
In De Bank Haycocks v ADP RPO UK Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal found a process involving two dismissals unfair, including because there hadn’t been general workforce consultation.
The Court of Appeal overturned that finding. It rejected a general requirement for workforce-wide consultation in smaller, non-unionised redundancy exercises.
The practical distinction matters. You don’t automatically need a separate whole-workforce exercise for one proposed redundancy. You still need meaningful individual consultation while the outcome remains open.
Failed collective consultation carries a higher maximum award
For relevant dismissals taking effect on or after 6 April 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 increased the maximum protective award from 90 to 180 days’ actual pay per affected employee. The government’s protective award update confirms the change.
The maximum isn’t automatic. The tribunal considers the seriousness of the failure.
A separate uplift of up to 25% may apply for unreasonable failure to follow the Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement where that Code applies. It isn’t a general uplift for every redundancy.
Protective awards are separate from unfair dismissal, discrimination and payment claims. Failure to submit HR1 can also lead to prosecution and a fine.
Frequently asked questions
Can consultation finish after one meeting?
There’s no statutory meeting count, but one meeting often leaves little opportunity to investigate suggestions and respond. Plan further discussions where questions, selection challenges or alternatives remain unresolved.
The test is whether consultation was meaningful, rather than whether you completed a particular number of appointments.
When should you get legal advice?
Get advice before fixing selection pools or departure dates, particularly where collective thresholds, family leave, disability or dismissal and re-engagement are involved.
Our employment solution was created by award-winning lawyers, and we’re employment law specialists. We bring HR consultancy, software, learning and insurance-backed tribunal cover up to £250,000 together, subject to policy terms and following our advice.
That keeps the guidance, actions and records connected throughout the process.
Leave room for the decision to change
A defensible consultation starts with an open proposal and ends with a decision supported by evidence. The meetings, scoring and written responses need to show how employees could influence that decision.
Keep the timetable open long enough to investigate what they raise. A planned saving doesn’t remove that responsibility.
Book an intro call to discuss keeping your redundancy advice, process and records together before departure dates become difficult to move.