During the Covid-19 pandemic, more people than ever before were made redundant. In November 2020, the peak, 400,000 British workers were made redundant in just one month. Although monthly redundancy figures have greatly reduced, businesses face rising costs and many small and medium businesses fear that they will not survive the winter.
If you have been made redundant, or are at risk of redundancy, here’s what you need to know.
This guide sets out to answer all the questions you might have about losing your job. From knowing what you’re entitled to and your legal rights, to sorting your finances and searching for a new job.
I’ve just lost my job. What should I do?
Losing your job can be an incredibly stressful period of time, especially in a cost-of-living crisis. Whether you’ve just had the news, or you’ve been out of work for a longer period of time, it’s important to keep in mind that, “It’s your job that’s been made redundant, not you.”
It may not be at the top of your list of things to do, but make sure that your employer is treating you fairly throughout the entire process. If you have been selected for redundancy, it’s worth noting that at all times your employer must treat you fairly.
If you’ve worked at an employer for any length of time:
- Make sure that your employer’s actions are not discriminatory. For example, if you’ve just announced that you’re pregnant, or you’ve asked for reasonable adjustments to support you in the workplace.
- Make sure that you’ve been chosen for a fair reason (such as your department needing to downsize).
- If 20 or more people are being made redundant, your employer must have held a group consultation.
If you’ve worked for an employer for more than two years, there are some additional things you should be looking out for:
- Make sure that the redundancy is genuine. Signs that your redundancy might not be genuine include if your employer has recently taken on new employees doing similar roles or if you have a bad relationship with your employer and have been treated unfairly at work.
- Make sure your employer is following a fair process, we’ll explain more about this below.
- If you’re pregnant or on parental leave when you’re made redundant, or have worked for the employer for more than two years, your employer should be trying to find you a role internally prior to redundancy.
What does a redundancy process look like?
While there are some legal requirements that your employer must follow, every company will have its own redundancy procedure, which generally can be found in your company’s handbook. However, some companies, especially smaller ones, may not have a redundancy policy (or a staff handbook!) and this may be the first time they’ve had to go through this process too.
First things first, your employer must ascertain if redundancies are necessary. There are three reasons that an employer is allowed to make someone redundant:
- Where a business is closing entirely
- Where the location an employee works is to be relocated
- Where the specific work that an employee carries out is no longer required
Before starting a redundancy process, a business should also consider other options in order to reduce or even prevent redundancies. These could include offering voluntary redundancies, moving employees into other roles, letting go of any temporary or contract workers, limiting or stopping overtime, and freezing hiring.
Once a business has decided that redundancies are unavoidable, it must ensure it follows its internal redundancy process (if it has one) and any redundancy processes that have been outlined in any agreements that have been made with trade unions.
At this point, employees should start to be told about redundancy. Employers must have a consultation period. This is when employees who are at risk of redundancy are told and any alternatives to redundancy, such as moving teams, are outlined.
If your employer is making 19 or fewer redundancies there are no strict rules around what this consultation looks like.
If they’re making 20 or more people redundant then they must involve a representative who is either a trade union rep or an elected employee rep. For 20 to 99 employees, consultation must start at least 30 days before any dismissals take effect, and for 100 or more redundancies the consultation must begin 45 days before.
A consultation should involve at least one meeting with your line manager. It should be a meaningful conversation where you are able to fully engage with the conversation.
All employees tend to be sent a redundancy plan at this stage. This outlines what an employer has considered before making this decision, how many roles are at risk, the timeline of the process and what the process will look like.
Some employers will offer voluntary redundancies. This will enable employees to volunteer to be made redundant.
If I am at risk of redundancy, am I losing my job?
Just because you’ve been told you’re at risk of redundancy, does not mean you will definitely lose your job.
Redundancy is one of the very few ways that an employer can terminate an employee’s contract. If there are opportunities to redeploy staff your employer should be making them to reduce redundancies. They also should select a pool of people at risk, rather than simply selecting those who are definitely redundant.
If there is a voluntary redundancy option, some employees may choose to leave which could have an impact on how many more people need to lose their jobs.
How are people selected for redundancy?
Your employer should never base their decisions on a protected characteristic such as your age, gender or race.
The decisions must only be based on the current needs of the business.
If you feel that discrimination has occurred, speak to your trade union rep (if you have one) or consider getting further advice as detailed in this guide from the UK Government.
What happens when you find out you’re being made redundant?
If you’re being made redundant, your employer will tell you. They’ll also need to clarify to you how long your notice period is and how much they will be paying you (they have to pay you until the end of your notice period).
In most cases, you’ll work throughout your notice period. Your notice period will depend on how long you’ve worked for that employer.
You could also ask your employer to communicate with you in writing, so you have everything on paper, especially if elements of the redundancy are unclear.
If you have worked for your employer for:
- 1 month to 2 years – your statutory notice is one week
- 2 to 12 years – your statutory notice is 1 week for each full year you have worked
- 12 years or more – statutory notice is 12 weeks
However, check your contract and your employee handbook. Your employer’s internal policy could entitle you to a higher notice period, it will never entitle you to less.
When you don’t think you should be being made redundant
There are a number of reasons why redundancy might be considered unfair. Your employer may not have followed the correct protocol or you may feel that they have discriminated against you.
If this is the case, your employer might be able to provide you with an appeals process to follow.
If they don’t have one, start by writing a letter, outlining the reason that you feel the redundancy was unfair. Any appeal should be made within a reasonable time of being made redundant, ideally within 5 working days. You may be able to get support during your appeal process from an employee rep or a trade union rep.
Once you have sent in your appeal, the next stage is an appeal meeting. Make sure you have a neutral person accompanying you who can make notes. The meeting will require you to go through the reasons you have outlined in writing.
Your employer will then decide to give you your job back or reinstate you if your notice period is up, retract your redundancy, or continue with the redundancy proceedings.
At this stage, you could begin proceedings with an employment tribunal. However, you would need to prove that your employer DID NOT hold a genuine and meaningful consultation process.
Here’s a useful guide from Citizens Advice Bureau to help you check if your redundancy is fair.
Redundancy pay
Depending on your contract, you may be entitled to more than statutory redundancy pay, so make sure you check your contract before you agree to any redundancy terms. As long as you qualify for redundancy rights, you will get some redundancy pay. There are three main factors used to determine how much you will get when you are made redundant:
- Your age
- The number of years you have worked for your employer
- Your earnings before tax (also known as gross pay)
Your employer must tell you how your redundancy payments will be worked out, when you will get your redundancy pay and how you will be paid. However, if your employer has offered you a suitable alternative job within the business and you refuse to take it, you may not be able to get any form of statutory redundancy pay.
It’s worth considering that the first £30,000 of a non-contractual redundancy payment you receive is tax-free.
My employer is insolvent, what can I do?
One of the three main reasons that people can be made redundant is when a business is closing entirely, and this might be because your employer is in debt and therefore filing for insolvency.
You can apply to the government’s Redundancy Payments Service (RPS) in order to claim the redundancy pay that you are due.
If you’ve lost your job and are struggling financially
Losing your job during a cost-of-living crisis can feel incredibly overwhelming, but there is support available.
- First things first, you might be able to apply for Universal Credit while you look for your next role. Eligibility depends on age, your employment status, and the amount of savings you have.
- If you are able to receive any financial support, then the Government might be able to boost the support they offer via their Help for Households scheme. You can find out more about the scheme here.
- Speak to your utility companies to see if they can provide any additional financial support. Many energy companies are offering households who are experiencing financial hardship substantially reduced bills.
- Explore whether any of your regular bills are outside of their fixed-term contracts and look for new deals. You might be able to make substantial savings with things like your phone or internet bill.
- Seek advice and support from local community groups, Citizens Advice Bureau, and Money Saving Expert.
Looking for a new role after losing your job?
If you’ve been in your current role for a really long time, finding a new job might feel like an alien process.
We’re here to help and signpost you towards tools, resources and information, to help you make your job search as painless as possible.
- Check out our find a job resources page. From how to create a showstopping CV to understanding if you should be on CareerTok.
- Value your CV so that you know how much you should be asking for and what roles are available. If our ValueMyCV tool isn’t showing what you expect, spend time making sure that your CV showcases your up-to-date skills and experience.
- Ask your employer for support. As part of the redundancy process, your employer should support you in your job hunt. They might be able to provide you with a CV rewriting service, link you up with a mentor, or support you with mock interviews.
- Use your network. Attend free networking events either online or in person for roles in your specific industry. You’ll find loads listed on the likes of Eventbrite and LinkedIn. LinkedIn can also help you to grow your online network and reconnect with past connections and colleagues. Your network could help link you up with the job that you’re looking for.
- Research your industry and get to know how many jobs are being advertised and what wages you should be looking for. Our job search tool empowers you with data. Helping you to get a handle on jobs in your industry and jobs in your location.
- Stay positive. It’s worth another reminder that it was your role that was made redundant and has nothing to do with who you are and your professional achievements. Don’t beat yourself up, take regular breaks, and remember that you’ll be in a new role before you know it.
Ready to start your job search? Start your search here today.
Read more: 6 ways to reduce job search stress
Looking for some CV help? Check out ValueMyCV for tips on how to improve your CV and to find out what you’re worth in today’s jobs market.