Redundancy selection criteria

If a whole team goes, nobody is selected; the roles are simply gone. Selection happens when an employer needs fewer people doing the same kind of work, and that is where most redundancy disputes start. No statute lists the criteria. Acas guidance does, and the law decides what happens if they are applied unfairly.

Criteria that are usually fair, and those that are not

Acas says criteria should be as objective and measurable as possible, and applied the same way to everyone in the pool. Its own examples, and its warnings, set out side by side:

The selection pool

Acas describes the pool as the list of roles to be considered for redundancy, and says each pool should include all roles that are the same or similar, with roles that share similar skills worth considering too. Where there is a recognised trade union or an existing redundancy policy, the pool should follow it.

Why the pool is the first thing to check

A narrow pool can decide the outcome before anyone is scored. If you are the only person in a pool of one while colleagues doing similar work are left out, ask why, in writing. The fairness of a dismissal turns on whether the employer acted reasonably in treating redundancy as a sufficient reason.

Bumping

Acas describes bumping, or “transferred redundancy”, as moving an employee whose role is at risk into someone else’s role, so that the other person is made redundant instead. It usually happens when a more senior or experienced employee’s job disappears and the organisation wants to keep them. If you are the person bumped, you must be treated fairly, like anyone else at risk, which means consultation and the same consideration of alternatives.

Scoring and the matrix

Most employers turn the criteria into a scoring matrix. Acas says it is useful to agree how scoring will work because it can be applied to everyone, explained to everyone, gives a consistent system, and “can be used at employment tribunals to defend an employer’s decision”. The same is true in reverse: if the scoring cannot be explained, it is hard to defend.

Ask for your scores

Ask for your own scores and the evidence behind each one. Look for criteria that are matters of opinion rather than record, attendance figures that include disability or maternity absence, and anything that was not in the criteria discussed at consultation. Acas says the selection criteria should have been included in the consultation.

Indirect discrimination

Acas gives an example: using flexible working as a criterion could be sex discrimination, because women are more likely to have caring responsibilities that make it harder to change their hours. A criterion that looks neutral can still fall harder on one group. If you think that has happened, a discrimination claim sits outside the unfair dismissal cap. What that changes.

Selection that is automatically unfair

Subsections (2A) to (7N) list the reasons, including health and safety activities, acting as an employee representative, making a protected disclosure and asserting a statutory right. If any of them is the reason you were picked, the dismissal is unfair however the scoring came out. What an unfair dismissal claim is worth.

Suitable alternative employment

Acas says an employer must try to move anyone selected into other jobs within the organisation, and that if a suitable role exists and is not offered, the employee could claim unfair dismissal. The offer should be in writing, made before the current contract ends, and start within four weeks of it ending.

The trial period

If the new role turns out to be unsuitable, you can leave during the trial without losing your redundancy payment. Stay beyond it without agreement on a longer period, and Acas says the right to redundancy pay is lost. Refusing an offer needs a valid reason; Acas’s examples include lower pay, health, a harder journey and disruption to family life.

Priority for pregnancy and family leave

Acas says employees on maternity, shared parental or adoption leave must be offered a suitable vacancy first if more than one person is interested, and that pregnant employees and new parents must be offered suitable alternative vacancies as a priority over other employees.

Consultation, notice and time off

Those minimum periods apply where 20 or more redundancies are proposed at one establishment within 90 days. Below that there is no statutory number of days, but individual consultation is part of a fair process, and the selection criteria should be part of it.

The right needs two years’ service. Your redundancy pay and notice are separate entitlements: how statutory redundancy pay is worked out · your notice.

Appeal, then settlement or a claim

Acas lists offering an appeal as a step in a fair redundancy process. Many redundancies end with a settlement agreement, and the strength of a selection challenge is part of what the negotiated sum is worth. Redundancy settlement agreements · the time limit to claim.

Common questions