What is the current situation?
If an employer is planning 20 or more redundancies at one establishment within a rolling 90-day period, they must consult with representatives of the affected employees.
This applies to ‘redundancies’ in the usual sense, and also where dismissals are used to change terms and conditions. (You can read more about changes to fire and rehire in the Employment Rights Bill here.)
Under the current rules, ‘establishment’ generally means one workplace or site.
Consultation must begin ‘in good time’ and at least 30 days before the first dismissal is proposed. This rises to a minimum of 45 days if the proposal is to dismiss 100 or more employees.
Failure to undertake proper collective consultation may result in ‘protective awards’ against employers of up to 90 days’ pay per employee.
So what’s changing and when?
So what’s changing and when?
The Employment Rights Bill will change the threshold that triggers the need for collective redundancy consultation.
From 2027, a collective redundancy consultation will be required where either:
- The employer proposes 20 or more redundancies at one establishment (which is the current threshold), or
- The employer proposes a number of redundancies across the employer’s organisation as a whole, regardless of where they occur. This new number will be defined in regulations and could be between 20 and 100, or may involve a percentage test.
These changes mean that statutory collective consultation could be triggered by small numbers of unconnected redundancies across different sites and workplaces if they happen within a rolling 90-day period. However, employers will not need to consult all of the employee representatives together or try to reach the same agreement with all of them.
The longer consultation period that applies when 100 or more redundancies are proposed could also be triggered more often when redundancies across different sites and workplaces are counted together.
From April 2026, the maximum award against employers for failing to collectively consult on redundancies will increase from 90 to 180 days’ pay per employee – significantly increasing the cost of failure to comply with the rules.
It is expected that the Government will also consult in Winter 2025 and early 2026 on whether to double the minimum consultation period from 45 to 90 days when an employer is proposing to dismiss 100 or more employees.
What you need to do now
- Create centralised systems to track proposed redundancies across sites and workplaces. Remember you need to use the broad definition of a redundancy set out above.
- Strengthen relationships with employee representatives. Review your relationship with trade unions and other employee representatives and look for opportunities to build trust and improve communication.
- If you do not have a recognised union or standing body of employee representatives, consider setting up a standing body of employee representatives to reduce the need for repeated employee representative elections.
- Refresh manager training on how to run a statutory collective redundancy consultation, to ensure managers have the necessary skills and knowledge for when the stakes become higher and are better equipped to work successfully with unions and employee representatives.
How Make UK can help you
Whether you’re already getting support from us or you’re just starting to explore your options, we’re here to help you plan for the Employment Rights Bill changes and protect your business.
Already getting support from Make UK?
You’ll receive updates from us as key legal changes come in, so you can stay compliant and up to date.
Detailed HR and employment law guidance and template policies and letters can also be found in the HR & Legal Resources section of our website. You can find template policies and other documents to help you run a redundancy process, including statutory collective consultation.
If you’ve got questions or need advice, your Make UK legal adviser is on hand to help. They can advise you – under the current law and under the new laws when they come in – on whether statutory collective consultation is triggered, who to consult with, and how to run a compliant collective consultation process.
We offer a range of training courses for managers, including how to manage the process for electing employee representatives and how to run a compliant collective consultation process. We also offer employee representative training courses.
Our HR and legal consultants can also provide hands-on support with any projects as you prepare for these changes or when implementing a redundancy process now or in the future. They can help you manage a redundancy process from start to finish, including the employee relations and communication aspects and providing outplacement support. You can also use our comprehensive digital material, which gives you all the know-how you need to run the project in-house.
You can also shape future policy. We speak regularly with Government and feed into consultations, using input from businesses like yours.
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You don’t have to face the changes alone. Whether you need quick input or ongoing support, we can help you however works best for your business.
One-off, practical supportIf you want focused help to get ready for the changes:
| Ongoing employment law and HR support
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Call 0808 168 5874 or email and we’ll help you work it out.
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06/08/2025