Collective redundancy, consultation & notification
The distinction between consulting employees, notifying the authority and handling protective awards.
Collective redundancy involves both communication with employees or their representatives and notification to the relevant authority. These are separate duties. Financial distress and an insolvency appointment require urgent examination of the facts; they do not make consultation irrelevant.
Identify the proposal and establishment
Record what is proposed, the affected employees, the establishment or establishments and the likely dismissal dates. Apply the rules currently in force, including aggregation over the relevant period. Distinguish a consultation proposal from a final dismissal decision.
An organisation-wide policy, collective agreement or evolving statutory requirement may require additional consideration. A consultation on changing the law is not itself the law in force.
Consultation has its own purpose
Consult the appropriate representatives about the proposal and ways to avoid or reduce redundancies and mitigate their consequences. Information should be sufficient for meaningful consideration. Individual dismissal fairness and collective consultation are related but separate issues.
Where representatives need to be elected, address the election process and the time required. Record the information supplied, alternatives considered and responses. The existence of a proposed purchaser does not by itself resolve all redundancy or transfer duties.
Notification and potential consequences
Use the appropriate official notification route and comply with the timing required for the facts. Sending a notification does not replace consultation. Conversely, talking to employees does not mean the authority has been notified.
Failure can have consequences including a protective award and, for some notification breaches, criminal liability. A tribunal award and an amount recoverable from the government insolvency payment scheme are different calculations; do not assume the whole award will be paid by the scheme.
Scotland: source route
Scotland uses the Great Britain collective consultation and HR1 framework. Use the current online notification route and amended legislation. Acas records a maximum protective award of 180 days’ pay from 6 April 2026 for the relevant GB regime; the government insolvency-payment scheme has separate limits and conditions.
Sources & review
Read the source in its own context. Legislation may contain commencement provisions and changes not yet applied to the displayed text. Professional guidance is identified separately from law.
Initial source-based editorial review: 26 Oct 2026. Next scheduled review: 26 Nov 2026. Substantive changes are reviewed before publication.
Added in the practice and regulation expansion requested on 26 October 2026. Primary-source editorial check; this is not independent professional approval. Future measures are distinguished from provisions in force.
Read the editorial approach and change policy.