There’s no good time to find out that you’re losing your job due to redundancy. It throws your career and income into uncertainty and leaves you facing several big decisions to make about the future. Having the right redundancy legal advice can make these circumstances more manageable and support you when you need it.
Effecting redundancies or a business restructuring is seldom straightforward, and employers often make the mistake of not consulting properly (or even at all) with the affected employees. In other situations, employers may appear to consult but not meaningfully or transparently and may select for redundancy on grounds that may be unfair or discriminatory.
At Clifton Ingram, our redundancy solicitors can provide specialist support to you, to assess whether you are being properly consulted and whether any redundancy is based on fair grounds. Whatever stage of the redundancy process you are in, we can help you to understand your options and choose an advantageous path forward.
In addition to our services concerning redundancy, we also provide additional support with various employment law matters. For immediate support, please contact our team or you can read our FAQs to learn more about UK redundancy law.
Contact our Redundancy Solicitors in Farnham, Reading and Wokingham today
Our team work from offices in Farnham, Reading and Wokingham. We advise on employment law redundancy in the UK for individuals all over Berkshire, as well as Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and further afield.
Speak to one of our redundancy solicitors today by calling 0118 978 0099 or using the contact form at the bottom of the page and we will respond quickly.
Why trust Clifton Ingram for redundancy advice for employees?
- One of the leading Employment Law teams in the Thames Valley and M3 Corridor, through to Surrey and surrounding areas.
- Regularly providing redundancy advice to clients in Farnham, Reading and Wokingham and across all of Berkshire and the surrounding areas, including Bracknell, Theale, Henley, Ascot, Crowthorne, Maidenhead, Camberley, Farnborough and Windsor.
- Ranked in the respected client guide The Legal 500 for Employment Law, recognising us as among the best employment law solicitors in the region.
- Our Head of Employment Alison Gair and Partner Robert Cherry are members of the respected Employment Lawyers Association (ELA)
- Decades of expertise in providing employment law advice for employees on both contentious and non-contentious issues
- Experts in handling everyday and more niche employment law matters
- Strong expertise in handling negotiation and alternative dispute resolution to minimise the likelihood of tribunal proceedings
- Poised to take immediate, strong action to protect your interests where necessary
A bespoke service tailored to your needs and circumstances
Our redundancy services include:
- Severance package negotiation
- Appealing a redundancy decision
- Fair redundancy selection process
Our redundancy services
Redundancy package negotiation
We regularly review redundancy packages and negotiate with former employees on the details on behalf of our clients. Since the UK laws on redundancy are strict, there are equally strict guidelines determining what your severance package should and shouldn’t include.
Our redundancy solicitors can review your offer and the circumstances around it and advise you as to whether or not you should accept them. If not, we can negotiate on your behalf to secure an appropriate and fair deal.
Appealing a redundancy decision
The key to redundancy negotiations is remaining factual and utilising sound legal practices. You may have an opportunity to appeal a redundancy decision if you believe your redundancy was incorrect or unfair, and act quickly.
Our redundancy lawyers can review your company policy, which will usually outline their redundancy protocols, and draft a formal appeal letter at your discretion. This will include the grounds for your appeal, which can include:
- Unfair selection, or that you were selected for redundancy based on bias or incorrect details
- Procedural errors, or that the company failed to follow the correct processes
- Lack of consultation, where you were not spoken to about the redundancy decision or allowed to ask questions
- Failure to offer suitable alternative roles, or that you were not offered or considered for an alternative position in the company
Once the letter has been sent, we will prepare for an appeal meeting, where you can present your evidence and defend your position. If you believe that the company mishandled this meeting, then we can arrange mediation and represent you. As a last resort, we will bring representation to the Employment Tribunal.
Fair redundancy selection process
Employers must follow a fair redundancy selection process, meaning that they have to abide by a protocol when determining who from their workforce will be made redundant.
If you have reason to believe that you were selected unfairly or due to biases, or, without the correct process having been followed, then our redundancy solicitors can guide you through your opportunities to appeal the decision.
Learn more about Redundancy
- Do you need a solicitor for redundancy?
- What is the 4 week rule for redundancy?
- What are the 5 stages of redundancy?
- What are my redundancy rights?
- What is unfair redundancy?
Do you need a solicitor for redundancy?
You are under no legal obligation to contact a solicitor, however, we strongly advise that you do as redundancy negotiations are typically very complex, and you are naturally on the back foot when you are positioned to argue with your employer.
Our solicitors can empower you not only with legal knowledge and experience, but with the support and confidence that is vital to fruitful appeals and negotiation.
What is the 4 week rule for redundancy?
The Employment Rights Act 1996 includes the 4 week rule, which is a provision that states the timeline for when an employee may lose their right to redundancy pay, should they accept an alternative position in the same place of work before their current role finishes.
This rule applies if you have been offered an alternative, suitable job by the same employer, you accept it, and the new job starts within four weeks of your current position being made redundant. It means that you will not be considered as having been dismissed from your prior position, and so you are not entitled to redundancy pay.
What are the 5 stages of redundancy?
The five stages of redundancy are legally required steps for your employer to take in order to legally and fairly carry out the redundancy process. The five steps are:
- Selection, which is when employees must undertake a fair and undiscriminating selection process.
- Consultation, which is when employers should advise their employees on the potential for them being made redundant in advance of any final decisions.
- Notice of redundancy, when the employer will provide the relevant employees with a notice of their redundancy.
- Appeals, which is when the employee may choose to try and appeal the redundancy decision.
- Termination, which is where the job contract ends and employers must follow the correct mandatory dismissal process.
What are my redundancy rights?
In the UK, you have a few rights under employment law that will come into effect if you are made redundant. These are:
- Statutory redundancy pay.
- A notice period that correlates to the length of your employment, including:
- 1 week for employment between 1 month to 2 years
- 1 week per year of service between employment of 2 to 12 years
- 12 weeks if you were employed for over 12 years
- A fair consultation process, involving the discussion of why redundancy is necessary and a consideration of any alternative paths such as redeployment.
- Reasonable efforts from your employer to find alternative jobs you might fill within the organisation.
- If you have been employed for 2 continuous years, you are also entitled to time off to job hunt whilst receiving up to 40% of a standard week’s pay.
- The right to appeal.
- The right to make a claim if you suspect it was an unfair dismissal.
What is unfair redundancy?
There are a few conditions that can create an unfair redundancy. These are all variables that the employer must be able to prove in order to make sure that the redundancy decision was made for a legitimate business reason.
Employers cannot make you redundant without abiding by your redundancy rights, and they cannot make you redundant with a lack of a genuine need and failing to follow the selection criteria. They must conduct you in good time and consider you for any potentially suitable roles that you could take up, as well as giving you adequate notice and pay.
You can also not be made redundant in retaliation for raising grievances or whistleblowing. If you suspect that your employer is making you redundant to spite you for speaking out about workplace unfairness or mismanagement, our employment solicitors have expertise in dismissals and disciplinaries and will be able to support you.
Our Redundancy Solicitor fees
Clifton Ingram provides upfront, clear costs wherever possible and will endeavour to give you an accurate estimation of the fees that the process will involve.
For some matters we can offer fixed fees and, where this is not possible, we will endeavour to provide a realistic fee range so you have a clear picture of the likely costs involved.
To find out more about our redundancy solicitors’ fees, please get in touch using the contact details below.
Contact our Redundancy Solicitors in Farnham, Reading and Wokingham today
At Clifton Ingram, we can guide you through your redundancy and will stand on the side you want to take, whether that is negotiating to reclaim your position of employment or an alternative, or on the terms of the redundancy notice.
Our team work from offices in Farnham, Reading and Wokingham. We advise on employment law and redundancy in the UK for individuals all over Berkshire, as well as Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and further afield.
Speak to one of our redundancy solicitors today by calling 0118 978 0099 or using the contact form at the bottom of the page and we will respond quickly.
Alternatively, talk to someone now via our live web chat.