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Redundancies are implemented when employees are no longer required in their role; they can either be dismissed on a compulsory or voluntary basis. However for a redundancy to be legitimate you must be able to demonstrate that an employee's job genuinely no longer exists.
What is redundancy?
Redundancy is defined by the Employment Rights Act 1996 as a dismissal attributable wholly or mainly to:
- “The fact that an employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was employed”
Or
- “The fact that the employer has ceased or intends to cease, to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed.”
This means that the need for work of a particular kind has ceased or diminished, i.e. you are removing a role from the staffing structure or require fewer hours to be worked in that role.
When does redundancy occur in schools?
Redundancy occurs most frequently when a School suffers a reduction in income or pupil numbers resulting in the need to reduce the number of employees or number of hours worked.
If a Foundation or Aided School has accorded advisory rights on the dismissal of teaching staff to the Local Authority (LA), then the Governing Body should ensure that it is aware of the LA’s redundancy policy and procedure. Academies are free to adopt their own policy. However, consideration should be given as to whether they are bound to follow the policy that was in place prior to academisation as a result of the TUPE transfer.
Consultation
If there is a need to reduce employees, the Governing Body is strongly advised to consult with the group of employees affected. If less than 19 employees are present, no rules are applicable regarding how the consultation process should be carried out. However, if 20 or more employees are being made redundant, you should consult trade unions or employee representatives. Making 20 or more redundancies within 90 days in a single establishment is known as a 'collective' redundancy.
EPM advises that a governing body adopts a policy of consulting the recognised trade union(s) and employees whenever a redundancy situation exists. This applies even when the reduction is achieved through voluntary redundancy or non-renewal of fixed-term contracts. Failure to do this could put you at risk of a redundant employee claiming unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal.
For further information, please listen to our ‘How to put together your consultation document for redundancy’ podcast.
Volunteers for redundancy
Firstly, it is advisable to identify the area(s) of staffing where the reduction is necessary and then to seek volunteers for redundancy, before proceeding to compulsory redundancies. Any employee who seeks information on the benefits available from volunteering for redundancy must be entitled to do so without prejudice to their position.
If the employee wishes to accept the offer of voluntary redundancy, they should advise the employer of this in writing. Requests for voluntary redundancy may be made during the consultation period or at any point afterwards. However, these should only be considered once the consultation has closed. You should thoroughly consider each request to determine if it can be accepted. If voluntary redundancy is agreed upon, the employee should be notified of their dismissal on the grounds of redundancy in writing and given the appropriate notice.
Part-time employee contracts
It is essential that both full-time and part-time workers are treated impartially and provided with the same contractual terms and conditions of employment. Therefore, part-time workers have the legal right not to be treated less favourably. It may seem opportunistic to make part-time workers redundant before full-time workers, however, the dismissal of part-time contracts on the grounds of redundancy will almost certainly be unlawful, if no other criteria for selection are present.
