My employer says I am being made redundant. What consultation rights do I have?

Short answer

An employer cannot simply announce redundancies and end employment — they must carry out a genuine consultation process. Individual consultation is required in all redundancy cases. Collective consultation (with elected representatives) is required where 20 or more employees are being made redundant within 90 days. Failure to consult properly gives you the right to a "protective award" of up to 90 days' pay per affected employee.

Redundancy consultation is a separate process from the right to a redundancy payment. Even if your employer pays the correct statutory redundancy payment, they can still owe you a protective award if they failed to consult. The Employment Tribunal can award both.

1 The rule

The right to collective consultation on redundancy is set out in

For collective redundancies of 20–99 employees, the minimum consultation period before the first dismissal is 30 days. For 100 or more employees, it is 45 days. The employer must also notify the Secretary of State (on Form HR1) before the consultation begins. Individual consultation — genuinely considering alternatives to dismissal and the selection process — is required in all cases regardless of numbers.

2 What you can do now

1. 01
   Confirm you are in a redundancy situation

   Redundancy has a specific legal meaning under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/139" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Employment Rights Act 1996, s.139</a>: your employer is closing the business, closing the site where you work, or there is a reduced need for employees doing your kind of work. If your employer is replacing you with someone doing the same job, it may not be genuine redundancy and could be unfair dismissal. Ask your employer to confirm in writing that the reason for dismissal is redundancy.

2. 02
   Check whether collective consultation applies

   If your employer is proposing to make 20 or more employees redundant at one establishment within 90 days, collective consultation obligations apply under TULRCA 1992, s.188. Your employer must: (1) notify the Secretary of State on Form HR1 at least 30 or 45 days before the first dismissal; (2) elect or recognise employee representatives if there is no recognised trade union; and (3) provide representatives with specified information in writing (including the reasons for redundancy, the numbers and descriptions of employees affected, and the proposed selection method). If your employer has not notified the Secretary of State, that is a criminal offence and strong evidence of failure to consult.

3. 03
   Engage with individual consultation meetings

   Your employer must hold individual consultation meetings with each employee at risk of redundancy. At these meetings, they must: explain why you are at risk; explain the selection criteria and how you scored; genuinely consider alternatives to redundancy (reduced hours, redeployment, voluntary redundancy); and invite your representations. You have the right to be accompanied at any consultation meeting by a trade union representative or a fellow employee (under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/26/section/10" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Employment Relations Act 1999, s.10</a>). If your employer presents the redundancy as a fait accompli without genuine consideration, that undermines the consultation.

4. 04
   Raise a grievance if consultation is inadequate

   If your employer does not genuinely consult — for example, holding a single brief meeting with no real opportunity to respond — raise a formal grievance under your employer's grievance procedure. This creates a written record and exhausts internal remedies before an Employment Tribunal claim. Use your right to appeal any dismissal decision internally. If you are given notice of dismissal before consultation is complete, note the date — this starts the clock on your ET claim. Keep copies of all letters, emails, and meeting notes.

5. 05
   Claim a protective award at the Employment Tribunal if consultation failed

   If collective consultation was inadequate or did not happen at all, each affected employee can claim a protective award of up to 90 days' gross pay before the Employment Tribunal under TULRCA 1992, s.189. Before filing, begin ACAS Early Conciliation — this is mandatory and pauses the three-month limitation period. If individual consultation was inadequate, you may also have an unfair dismissal claim (see the <a href="/guides/work/unfair-dismissal-claim" class="body-link">unfair dismissal claim guide</a>). Both claims can run in parallel.

3 When this does not apply

• Employees with less than two years' continuous service cannot claim unfair dismissal (though they can still claim a protective award if collective consultation obligations applied).
• Fixed-term contracts: expiry of a fixed-term contract is a dismissal for the purposes of unfair dismissal but consultation obligations still apply if the employer is terminating multiple fixed-term contracts at the same establishment.
• Insolvency: if the employer is insolvent, redundancy pay and some other claims can be recovered from the National Insurance Fund via the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/claim-redundancy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Redundancy Payments Service</a>.
• Zero-hours contracts: workers on zero-hours contracts may not meet the "employee" threshold for statutory redundancy pay but may still have claims depending on their employment status.

4 Common questions