Making staff redundant
Avoiding redundancies
You should take steps to avoid compulsory redundancies, for example by:
- seeking applicants for voluntary redundancy or early retirement
- seeking applications from existing staff to work flexibly
- laying off self-employed contractors and freelancers
- not using casual labour
- restricting recruitment
- reducing or banning overtime
- filling vacancies elsewhere in the business with existing employees
- short-time working or temporary lay-offs
Offers of alternative work
Even if you’ve selected someone for redundancy, you can still offer them alternative work.
For an offer to be valid:
- it should be unconditional and in writing
- it must be made before the employee’s current contract ends
- it should show how the new job differs from the old
- the job must actually be offered to the employee - they should not have to apply
- the new job must start within 4 weeks of the old job ending
Employees who accept an offer of alternative work are allowed a 4-week trial period to see if the work is suitable. If you both agree that it is not, they can still claim redundancy pay.
The trial period can be longer than 4 weeks if you agree this in writing.
If you think the job is suitable but the employee refuses to take it, they might lose any redundancy pay entitlement.