Redundancy—fair procedure: individual consultation

Where there is no statutory obligation to consult with any existing employee representatives (see Practice Note: Collective redundancy—the triggers for the statutory consultation obligations), the employer may nonetheless wish to do so to ensure that the process is fair for unfair dismissal purposes and for good industrial relations, particularly where there is a collective bargaining agreement to this effect.

For guidance on the procedure to be followed where statutory consultation obligations apply, or it is otherwise necessary to consult with union or other employee representatives, see Practice Note: Collective redundancy—statutory information and consultation obligations.

This Practice Note contains guidance on a fair procedure to be followed where:

1. •

   the statutory collective consultation obligations do not apply, and

2. •

   there is no other requirement (or need) to consult with union or other employee representatives, eg under a collective bargaining agreement

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures does not apply to redundancy dismissals. Acas has published a non-statutory advisory booklet entitled 'Handling large-scale redundancies', according to which 'many of the good management practices for dealing with collective redundancies also apply to handling individual redundancies sensitively and fairly'. Acas also provides a step-by-step guide to Manage staff redundancies.

The guidance in this Practice Note takes account of the current Acas guidance.

The employer should of course give consideration throughout the redundancy process