What are consultation meetings?

Consultation meetings are required when employees are at risk of redundancy. The purpose of the consultation process is essentially to inform the employee of the situation: that their role (and other roles if applicable) is at risk of being made redundant.

It is important that care is taken to ensure that those affected understand what is being proposed and why it is thought necessary. It is equally important to provide those affected with an opportunity to make suggestions regarding how potential redundancies may be reduced and their job may be saved.

 The nature of the consultation process, and the obligations of the employer during it, would vary depending on the number of employees who are at risk of redundancy. However, regardless of size, it is necessary to ensure that the consultation process is meaningful.

What happens if an employer does not consult properly?

If an employer does not consult employees properly, this may cause a number of substantial problems. For example, if an employer has not consulted employees properly, prior to making them redundant, the employees may bring a claim at an Employment Tribunal for a protected award.

In addition to the protected award referred to above, an employee who has been made redundant may, depending on the circumstances, bring a claim of unfair dismissal on the basis that, for example, the way things were done was not fair. Alternatively, the employee may bring a claim of discrimination, believing that it played a part in the decision making of the employer.

The requirement to consult is a legal obligation, but an effective consultation process will benefit all concerned. For example, if employees know that decisions are made in a transparent and consistent way, they are less likely to pursue a claim at an Employment Tribunal.   

Who can accompany you to a redundancy meeting?

Despite the heading above, it is important to remember that neither employees nor employers should see these meetings as redundancy meetings because no decisions should be made until the consultation process is concluded.

Unlike disciplinary and grievance meetings, there is no statutory right to be accompanied to consultation meetings. However, an employer may choose to make that available. The answer to whether or not the particular employer permits employees to be accompanied may be found in documentation such as the employee’s contract of employment or the Employee Handbook (to find out what is an employee handbook? Read our blog).

The steps that need to be followed depend on the number of individuals affected. For example, the number of people facing redundancy would affect the required arrangements relating to consulting with a trade union (or alternatively employee representatives). This means that while an employee may well not have a right to be accompanied during consultation meetings, there may well be support available relating to the process 

Selection pool for redundancy

At the outset, it is important to explore what steps may be necessary in order for the organisation to function effectively. For example, potential action may become necessary for a number of reasons such as economic challenges, restructuring or changes to the strategic direction of the organisation.

If redundancies may be necessary, it is important that the process is fair and transparent. An important task is to identify the individuals who may be affected: are being considered for redundancy. For example, is it everyone in a particular department who may be affected or will it be limited to people performing particular tasks/roles. This affected group is often referred to as the selection pool.

It is important that employees are able to express views about any potential selection pool. This is because such discussions may prompt changes to the selection pool and potentially reduce the number of people in it.

Criteria for redundancies

Once a selection pool has been established, and all alternatives to redundancies have been explored, it is then necessary to set out criteria which will ultimately determine which employees within the selection pool will be made redundant. The criteria may well vary depending on the needs of the organisation, but a basic example would be qualifications.

It is important that any criteria reflect the needs of the organisation, that the criteria are not discriminatory, that the process is fair, and decision making is consistent. For example, depending on the size of the exercise, it may be sensible to provide training to those individuals who are responsible for scoring the responses from employees. This approach is particularly relevant when there may be several individuals (or groups of individuals) who are responsible for the scoring part of the exercise. Training in this area will help to ensure that the scoring system that is adopted is consistent.

Do I have to attend redundancy consultation meetings?

Consultation meetings should be arranged during your usual working hours. If that is so, your attendance would be expected. Furthermore, if you do not attend, it may well affect your ability to ask questions about the process or to influence what happens going forward. 

Making a position redundant by restructuring

Depending on the circumstances, it may well be possible for an organisation to reduce its workforce by restructuring. In such circumstances, it is particularly important to carefully consider the stages above. If these issues are not approached with care, as said above, an employee may conclude that a dismissal was unfair and/or discriminatory.