Redundancy Law Solicitors for Employers

What Employers Should Do Before Starting a Redundancy Process

Before starting redundancy consultation, employers should identify the genuine business reasons for the proposed redundancies. This may include a downturn in work, workplace closure, changes to business structure, reduced demand, new technology or the removal of particular roles. Our redundancy solicitors for employers can help you assess whether redundancy is the correct legal route and whether alternatives should be considered first, such as recruitment freezes, reduced hours, redeployment, voluntary redundancy or changes to working arrangements.

A clear redundancy plan helps protect both the business and affected employees. Employers should prepare a fair timetable, identify who may be at risk, decide how consultation will be managed, keep accurate records and ensure managers understand the process. Getting employment redundancy solicitors involved early can help avoid procedural mistakes, unclear communication and claims that the redundancy was unfair or predetermined.

The Redundancy Process for Employers

Even where a business has strong commercial reasons for reducing headcount, employers must follow a fair redundancy process. This usually includes warning affected employees, consulting properly, applying objective selection criteria, considering suitable alternative employment, giving the correct notice and making any redundancy payments due. KLG Law provides redundancy legal advice for businesses that need a structured, compliant and commercially practical process.

Redundancy and the Employment Rights Act reforms

Employers should be aware that wider Employment Rights Act reforms are reshaping the legal landscape around dismissals. From January 2027, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection is set to reduce from two years to six months, meaning many more employees made redundant will have the right to bring an unfair dismissal claim. 

Alongside this, statutory compensation limits are increasing annually — the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal has risen to £123,543 from April 2026. Together, these changes raise the financial stakes of getting the redundancy process wrong, making early legal advice more important than ever for employers planning restructuring.

Fair Selection and Redundancy Pools

A fair selection process is one of the most important parts of redundancy law. Employers should identify an appropriate pool of employees, choose objective selection criteria and apply those criteria consistently. Common criteria may include skills, qualifications, performance, disciplinary record and attendance, provided they are used carefully and without discrimination. If you need an employment lawyer redundancy review, KLG Law can help check whether your proposed selection pool and scoring matrix are legally robust.

Redundancy Consultation Advice for Employers

Consultation should be meaningful, not a box-ticking exercise. Employers should explain the reason for the proposed redundancy, discuss the selection process, listen to employee feedback, consider alternatives and allow employees to challenge their provisional selection. A solicitor redundancy consultation review can help ensure meetings, letters and final decisions are handled correctly.

Individual consultation meetings should give each affected employee a genuine opportunity to comment on the proposal, ask questions and suggest alternatives. Employers should discuss the business reason for redundancy, the employee’s selection score where relevant, any available roles and the proposed redundancy package. If no alternative is agreed, the employer should confirm the decision in writing, set out notice and payments, and offer a right of appeal.

Suitable Alternative Employment

Employers should make reasonable efforts to identify suitable alternative roles before confirming redundancy dismissal. This may include vacancies in the same business or, depending on the structure, elsewhere in a group company. If an employee unreasonably refuses a suitable alternative role, this can affect entitlement to statutory redundancy pay. Because this area can be fact-sensitive, many employers take redundancy legal advice before deciding whether a refusal is reasonable.

Collective Redundancy Consultation

Where an employer proposes to dismiss 20 or more employees as redundant within 90 days or less at one establishment, collective consultation duties may apply. This can involve consulting employee representatives or trade unions, providing required information and following minimum consultation periods. KLG Law’s redundancy solicitors for employers can advise on collective consultation obligations and help reduce the risk of protective award claims.

Notice Periods in Redundancy

Employers must give employees the correct notice before employment ends. The minimum statutory notice period depends on length of service, although the employment contract may provide for a longer period. Employers may also need advice on payment in lieu of notice, garden leave, holiday pay and final salary calculations. Our employment redundancy solicitors can review contracts and help ensure termination payments are calculated correctly.

In some cases, an employer may ask an employee not to work during their notice period, known as garden leave, or may make a payment in lieu of notice if the contract allows. Employees may also be entitled to reasonable time off to look for work or arrange training. Clear legal advice helps employers avoid disputes over notice, pay and post-termination obligations.

Redundancy Pay and Settlement Agreements

Employees with sufficient qualifying service may be entitled to statutory redundancy pay, calculated by age, weekly pay and length of service, subject to statutory limits. Some employees may also have enhanced contractual redundancy rights. KLG Law can advise employers on redundancy pay, enhanced packages and settlement agreements where a clean, negotiated exit is the best commercial option.

From 6 April 2026, the weekly pay used to calculate statutory redundancy is capped at £751, and the maximum statutory redundancy payment is £22,530 (based on 20 years’ service at the highest age band). These figures are reviewed and typically increase every April, so always check the current cap before finalising calculations. The contract of employment and/or staff books should be checked to see whether they mention a redundancy pay. If the contract states a higher amount of redundancy pay, the employer should pay this sum.

Speak to Redundancy Law Solicitors Today
If your business is planning redundancies, restructuring roles or facing employee challenges, KLG Law can help. Speak to our redundancy law solicitors for clear, practical redundancy legal advice for businesses. Call 0330 221 0684 or request a free 15-minute consultation.