Introduction

Employers could at some point have to dismiss employees, place them on short-time working, lay them off or make them redundant. All of these issues are very complex, and employers need to ensure they are acting carefully, thoroughly and, most importantly, professionally.

If business operations change, or there is less of a demand for a product, employers could experience a shortage of work. If this occurs, and the situation is temporary, then in certain circumstances the employees could work fewer hours (‘short-time working’) or not attend work at all (be ‘laid off’). If the reduction in work is expected to be permanent, employers then may need to make employees redundant.

The Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedure does not apply to redundancy dismissals, therefore a failure to follow the Code in redundancy situations will not automatically result in an increase in any compensation. However, the exclusion of redundancy dismissals from the scope of the Code does not mean that employers can ignore procedural fairness when making redundancies. Redundancy dismissals are covered by section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 in the same way as other dismissals.

Note: Throughout this guide we refer to templates which will help you through the process. All templates can be found and the end of the guide.