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Facing Redundancy? Hopkins Solicitors Is Here to Support You

Redundancy can be a difficult and uncertain time, affecting both your professional and personal life. At Hopkins Solicitors, we understand the challenges you’re facing and are here to provide expert legal advice and compassionate support. Our goal is to ensure that your rights are protected and that you navigate this transition with clarity and confidence.

Why Choose Hopkins Solicitors?

  • Expertise: Our dedicated team specialises in employment law, ensuring your redundancy process is fair and transparent.
  • Client-Centric Approach: We focus on your well-being, offering personalised guidance tailored to your unique situation.
  • No Win, No Fee: Concerned about legal costs? Our ‘No Win, No Fee’ policy ensures that you only pay if we win your case.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Don’t let the uncertainty of redundancy overwhelm you. Hopkins Solicitors is here to provide clear, compassionate, and practical advice tailored to your needs.

Your journey towards clarity and support starts with a simple step: getting in touch with us.

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Redundancy can be a challenging time for employees, affecting livelihoods and causing uncertainty. At Hopkins Solicitors, we understand how redundancy affects individuals and their families. Our team provides compassionate and expert legal support. They will help to guide you through this transitional period.

We offer clear guidance on employee rights, ensuring fairness throughout the redundancy process. Whether in consultation periods or legal claims, we are here to empower you. We can provide the knowledge and support for you to make informed decisions. Hopkins Solicitors is committed to helping you understand your rights. We can assist you in exploring options and moving forward with confidence.

Understanding Redundancy

Redundancy occurs when an employer needs to reduce their workforce. This is often due to:

  • Company closures
  • Reorganisations
  • Technological advancements that render certain roles obsolete.

Unlike other forms of job termination, redundancy is not based on individual performance. It is often based on the needs of the business.

Common causes of redundancy include cost-cutting, company mergers, and operational streamlining. For example, technological advancements may automate tasks once done by humans. This may cause some roles to be made redundant.

Experiencing redundancy can be a challenging and uncertain time for employees. It can affect both their professional and personal lives. It’s important for employees facing redundancy to understand their rights. These include pay entitlements, notice periods, and potential redeployment options within the company.

Seeking legal advice can provide clarity and ensure that your rights are protected. Our team offers expert guidance to help you understand redundancy. We provide practical solutions and support tailored to your specific situation. We’re here to help you make informed decisions and move forward with confidence.

Legal Rights During Redundancy

Right to Fair Selection Process

During redundancy, a fair and objective selection process is crucial. This process ensures decisions are unbiased and based on relevant criteria. Certain factors should be considered when determining which roles are no longer required. These include skills, experience, performance and disciplinary records.

Employees are entitled to be treated fairly and equally throughout the redundancy process. Consultation with employees or their representatives is essential. Employers must communicate the selection criteria and the rationale behind their decisions. This allows them to provide feedback and explore alternatives where possible.

Understanding your rights during redundancy empowers you to navigate the process confidently. It promotes transparency and trust within the workplace. It also ensures adherence to legal obligations.

A fair selection process safeguards employees’ rights. It also helps to maintain morale and productivity during times of organisational change. These processes demonstrate a commitment to ethical practices and encourage a supportive environment.

Notice Period and Pay

Employees facing redundancy are entitled to a notice period. This can vary depending on their length of service. Statutory notice periods range from one week for one month of service up to 12 weeks for 12 years or more.

Employers may offer pay instead of notice if they terminate employment immediately. Alternatively, employees might be placed on gardening leave. This is where they remain employed but do not work, allowing time to find new opportunities.

Acknowledging these options helps employees prepare for the transition. It ensures they receive fair compensation and adequate time to plan their next steps. Understanding redundancy eases the process, helping individuals make informed decisions. Seeking advice from a legal professional can clarify rights and ensure legal compliance.

Consultation Rights

Employees facing redundancy have the right to individual and collective consultations. This is particularly true in large-scale redundancy situations. Individual consultations involve discussing reasons for redundancy, exploring alternatives, and addressing employee concerns.

Collective consultations occur when an employer intends to make 20 or more employees redundant within 90 days. During these consultations, employers must:

  • Provide detailed information about the proposed redundancies
  • Listen to employee feedback
  • Consider alternatives to job losses.

These consultations are crucial. It helps employees understand their rights, explore all relevant options, and receive support. Seeking legal advice ensures that employees are treated fairly.

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Options and Support Available

Challenging Redundancy

Employees facing redundancy can challenge its fairness through various avenues. Employees can contest their redundancy if they believe the process was unfair. They also have a right if they feel there were insufficient consultation efforts.

To challenge redundancy, employees should first raise concerns with their employer. This can be done informally through discussions or formally via the company’s grievance process. Employers are legally required to address these concerns and consider alternatives to redundancy.

If internal avenues do not resolve the issue, seeking legal advice is advisable. A solicitor can assess, advise on legal options, and help prepare a case to challenge the decision. This can involve filing an Employment Tribunal claim to review the process and outcome.

Understanding one’s rights and the process empowers employees to protect their interests. It ensures they are treated fairly during this period. This also encourages employers to adhere to legal obligations on redundancy procedures.

Suitable Alternative Employment

Employers facing redundancy should explore alternative job opportunities for affected employees whenever possible. Employers should ensure that employees have options to stay within the company’s workforce. This helps to minimise the impact of redundancy.

Suitable alternative employment refers to roles that match an employee’s skills and capabilities. Employers should consider certain factors when offering alternative roles. These include job location, salary, and job responsibilities. Employers should discuss these opportunities with employees meaningfully during consultations.

Employees who refuse suitable alternative employment may affect their entitlement to redundancy pay. If the alternative role is suitable and an employee refuses it, they may lose their statutory redundancy pay. However, employees are not required to accept significantly inferior roles. They are also not obligated to accept roles unsuitable for their skills and experience.

Understanding the options available for suitable alternative employment empowers employees. It encourages constructive dialogue between employers and employees to explore viable solutions. This also ensures fairness and compliance with employment laws.

Financial and Career Support

Redundancy involves understanding the financial and career support available to help individuals transition. Redundancy pay, also known as severance pay, is a statutory entitlement. This is calculated based on years of service, age and weekly earnings. Financial compensation aims to provide stability during this transitional period.

Employees may also be entitled to notice pay and accused holiday pay. These are crucial components of the redundancy package. Understanding these entitlements ensures individuals can plan their finances accordingly.

Career transition services are equally important. Employees facing redundancy may receive additional support. This includes:

  • Time off to attend job interviews
  • Time to explore new opportunities
  • Participate in training programs to enhance skills.

This support helps job search efforts and prepares individuals for new career paths.

By providing clear information about financial entitlements, individuals can make informed decisions. Career support services also help them manage their redundancy with confidence. Seeking professional advice can further clarify options and maximise the benefits available.

How Hopkins Solicitors Can Help

Hopkins Solicitors is dedicated to providing comprehensive support to individuals facing redundancy. We ensure that your rights and interests are protected throughout the process.

We offer expert advice and guidance from the beginning to the end of the redundancy process. This includes assisting you in preparing for redundancy consultation meetings. It ensures you are well-informed and ready to discuss your situation.

Our team will advise you on your options if you wish to appeal against a decision to make you redundant. We will assess if your redundancy was fair. If you feel unfairly treated, we can assess if you have grounds for an Employment Tribunal claim.

We also excel in negotiation to achieve favourable outcomes for our clients. If negotiation fails, we are ready to represent you in legal proceedings.

Our goal is to provide you with knowledge, support, and representation. This will help you understand the challenges of redundancy with confidence. Contact us today to discuss your situation and receive expert advice.

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Conclusion

Understanding redundancy is crucial for managing the challenges it presents. Redundancy is a business necessity rather than a reflection of individual performance. This is driven by factors such as company closures, reorganisations and technological advancements. The redundancy process can be complex. It involves fair selection procedures, notice periods, and rights to consultations.

Employees must be aware of their legal rights. This includes a fair selection process, notice pay, and consultation rights. These rights ensure transparency and fairness, encouraging trust and morale. Moreover, exploring alternative employment is crucial to avoiding the impact of redundancy.

Seeking legal advice can provide clarity and support. It ensures your rights are protected and helps you understand redundancy with confidence. Hopkins Solicitors is committed to offering comprehensive guidance and representation. We can help you to make informed decisions and transition smoothly. Contact us today to discuss your situation and benefit from our expert advice.

Price Transparency

If you feel your employers have treated you unfairly and you would like advice on what to do next we offer a fixed fee advice consultation for £500+VAT. During this meeting not only will you get detailed legal advice on your specific situation but we will also advise you of any potential future costs, should you choose to instruct us to act on your behalf, and we can set up a flexible payment plan to suit your budget.

Important Note on Legal Fees: if you have home insurance, it is worth looking closely at your policy as it may include employment legal expenses coverage which would cover all of our consultation fees.  

Where you can get free employment law advice

Not everyone is in a position to pay for legal advice when they are having a dispute with their employer, if this is the position you are in there are two organisations that you can contact for help that will not charge you for initial advice:

Acas – the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service: They work with millions of employers and employees every year to improve workplace relationships. They are an independent public body that receives funding from the government and are a great starting point for employees and employers to get free advice.

Citizen’s Advice Bureau: They are a national charity and network of local charities that offer confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. Most cities and towns will have an office that you can visit or call, or visit their website for general advice you can read online.

FAQs

Why Hopkins?

Here at Hopkins, we go the extra mile in making you feel at ease throughout the process. We will always keep you updated and explain anything you need to know for full transparency. We pride ourselves on taking care of our local community, with offices based in Mansfield, Nottingham, Kirkby and Sutton. We have proudly served our community for over a century and continually strive to be of service as well as fulfilling our promise to you – the entire Hopkins team are committed to providing the best personal client care. This high standard of service is recognized by our Law Society’s prestigious LEXCEL legal practice quality mark. You can find out more about our team and history on our About Hopkins page here.

Can I challenge my redundancy decision?

If you believe your redundancy was unfair, you can challenge it. We can advise you on your rights and help you understand the process. This includes potential claims to an Employment Tribunal.

What should I do if I'm offered suitable alternative employment?

You have the right to consider any offer of suitable alternative employment. Refusing it could affect your entitlement to redundancy pay.

How long does the redundancy process take?

The timeframe can vary. Employers must follow specific consultation periods based on the number of redundancies. Hopkins Solicitors can guide you through each stage to ensure compliance and fairness.

Can I receive redundancy pay if my employer goes into liquidation?

Redundancy pay is a statutory entitlement, even if your employer faces insolvency. We can assist you in claiming redundancy payments through the National Insurance Fund.

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Meet the Team

  1. Elizabeth Kirkham

    Elizabeth Kirkham

    Solicitor

  2. Patricia Redfearn

    Patricia Redfearn

    Chartered Legal Executive

Testimonials

  • 5 Stars

    Friendly, easy to understand service. Patricia explained everything and always did everything in my best interest.

    , 20th September 2022

  • 5 Stars

    Everything was very clearly explained and Patricia was very patient with my questions, ensuring all was clear before moving on.

    , 20th September 2022

  • 5 Stars

    Very quick and friendly service, made a bad situation very easy for me to deal with.

    , 14th September 2022

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