Help, we’ve just lost a big customer and there’s not enough work for everyone now. How do I make people redundant?

The first thing to do is work out whether you definitely do need to make anyone redundant.

Losing an important customer is a daunting prospect, but before making any knee-jerk reactions, take some time to make sure that redundancies are definitely required.

Once you have established that redundancies are required, you need to decide the number of employees that are to be made redundant and how you are going to decide who will be made redundant. This involves deciding on appropriate pools of employees and then establishing an objective selection criteria.

You then need to meet and consult with the employees who are affected by the potential redundancies. These meetings, known as consultation, should be aimed at exploring alternatives to redundancy – volunteers, job shares, alternative roles within the business for example.

If, despite everyone’s best efforts, redundancies are still required, then after carrying out a scoring exercise based on your objective selection criteria, those who are to be made redundant should be notified. They will have the right to appeal their selection.

There are additional requirements and timeframes if 20 or more people are to be made redundant.

If you require advice please get in touch with our employment department on 01246 932 100 or email us at hello@dawsonradford.co.uk