Last reviewed: 19.11.2025
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 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 to take place. 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?
The Employment Rights Bill will change the threshold that triggers the need for collective redundancy consultation.
It is expected that 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.
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. This is expected to come into force in April 2026.
It is expected that the Government will also consult 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
The timing of some of these actions will depend on when the detail of the new laws is finalised and when the changes come into force. However, you can start to plan 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.
- Prepare for more, and longer, collective consultations. Consider what can be done to further improve employee engagement to help consultations to go smoothly.
How we can help
- Sign up to our updates as the legal changes come in, so you can stay compliant and up to date.
- We have detailed HR and employment law guidance, template policies and letters on our website in the HR & Legal Resources section, which will be maintained as the changes come into force.
- Our team of employment lawyers is happy to help if you’ve got questions or need advice. And if you need hands-on support with any projects as you prepare for the changes, our HR and legal consultants can work with you to get the right steps in place and stay compliant.
- Use our ERB enquiry line - ([email protected]) for real-time access to legal specialists when you need quick answers about the Employment Rights Bill.
- Ask about our Right track review (coming soon): A focused, in-business audit with clear, practical steps to keep you compliant.
- You can also shape future policy. We speak regularly with Government and feed into consultations, using input from businesses like yours.
Ongoing employment law and HR support
- For longer-term support, our retained service includes:
- Direct access to employment law experts.
- Regularly updated HR policies and templates.
- Advice for day-to-day issues and bigger picture planning.
- The chance to help shape Government policy.
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