ACAS Guide On Collective Redundancies

From 6 April 2013 if an employer is proposing to dismiss as redundant 100 or more employees at one establishment within a rolling 90 day period, consultation now only has to begin 45 days before the first dismissal takes effect.

From 6 April 2013 if an employer is proposing to dismiss as redundant 100 or more employees at one establishment within a rolling 90 day period, consultation now only has to begin 45 days before the first dismissal takes effect. Prior to this date this period was 90 days.

For proposals to dismiss as redundant 20 to 99 employees the time period remains at 30 days.

To accompany the changes ACAS has produced a non-statutory code of practice entitled “How to manage collective redundancies”. The ACAS guide amongst other things sets out a case study and a ten point checklist for handling collective redundancies.

The guide aims to offer clarity for employers, employee representatives and employees about the law on collective redundancies as well as what common sense recommends.

The guide will therefore assist when redundancies become necessary and give pointers as to the best procedure to follow. The guide is generic and therefore we still recommend that advice is taken about specific circumstances to ensure that it can be tailored to the business’ needs.

For a copy of the guidance please refer to www.acas.org.uk