Employers face imminent decisions on redundancies

Employers concerned at the prospect of contributing to the cost of furloughed employees’ wages from August now face imminent decisions about whether to begin the redundancy process.

An employer wishing to make 100 or more redundancies from 1 August, when the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will cease to cover the cost of National Insurance and pension contributions, has until 15 June to initiate a 45-day consultation.

Meanwhile, employers looking to make between 20 and 99 redundancies must initiate a 30-day consultation, giving them until the start of July.

Additionally, employers may also need to allow for time for employee representatives to be elected, where there is no recognised trade union.

Collective consultation must follow a set structure, which begins with notifying the Redundancy Payments Service (RPS) ahead of the consultation, consulting with trade union or employee representatives, providing information to staff, responding to requests for further information, issuing termination notices and issuing redundancy notices.

For employers looking to make fewer than 20 employees redundant in a 90-day period, there is no statutory consultation period, but some form of consultation is generally recommended in order to mitigate the possibility of disputes arising.