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Redundancy selection criteria

Stephen SimpsonEditor's message: Where there is a pool of potentially redundant employees, the criteria that employers use to select employees for redundancy is critical. Employers should draw up fair, relevant, transparent and non-discriminatory selection criteria. The criteria should be objective and avoid being based solely on personal opinion.

Redundancy selection criteria that employers commonly use are: measurable levels of skills and competencies; assessments of past performance; and disciplinary record.

Employers need to be acutely aware of the dangers of including potentially discriminatory redundancy selection criteria. While employees' attendance record can be used as one of the measurements, employers must take into account the reason for absences. A failure to discount absences related to, for example, disability or pregnancy is likely to be discriminatory.

Stephen Simpson, principal employment law editor

New and updated

  • Type:
    Employment law guide

    Redundancy

    Updated to include information on De Bank Haycocks v ADP RPO UK, in which the Court of Appeal considered the fairness of the consultation process for individual redundancies.

  • Type:
    Employment law cases

    Court of Appeal rules on consultation process for individual redundancies

    In De Bank Haycocks v ADP RPO UK, the Court of Appeal restored the tribunal's decision that the redundancy dismissal was fair and held that "general workforce consultation" is not necessary where the collective consultation requirements do not apply.

  • Date:
    17 October 2024
    Type:
    Survey analysis

    Redundancy research 2024

    New research from Brightmine has found that more than half of responding organisations have made redundancies in the last 12 months. This analysis explores how organisations are navigating their approach to redundancies, as well as providing key metrics on the scale of the changes being made.  

  • Type:
    Employment law cases

    Redundancy: Failure to have meaningful consultation made dismissal unfair

    In De Bank Haycocks v ADP RPO UK Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), overturned the tribunal's decision and held that the employee's dismissal for redundancy was unfair because there was an absence of meaningful consultation at the formative stage of the redundancy process.

  • Date:
    2 November 2023
    Type:
    Podcasts and webinars

    Webinar: Handling HR nightmares

    We look at workplace scenarios that can strike fear into the heart of the most experienced HR professionals, including issues relating to: discipline and grievances; redundancy; and new legislation.

  • Type:
    How to

    How to choose and apply redundancy selection criteria

    Updated to highlight risks associated with the use of automated decision-making in redundancy selection.

  • Type:
    Employment law cases

    Sex discrimination: Dismissal of part-time working mother was discriminatory and unfair

    In Long v British Gas Trading Ltd, an employment tribunal held that the selection for redundancy of a part-time employee who was the mother of young children was sex discrimination, less favourable treatment because of part-time working and an unfair dismissal.

  • Date:
    2 February 2021
    Type:
    Podcasts and webinars

    Podcast: Tricky redundancy selection issues

    Employment lawyer Luke Bowery guides you through some common tricky issues in redundancy selection exercises, including those involving furloughed employees, competitive interview processes and disability discrimination.

  • Date:
    11 September 2020
    Type:
    Podcasts and webinars

    Webinar: Redundancy - legal and practical complexities

    Max Winthrop, partner and head of the employment law team at Short, Richardson & Forth, navigates you through the common tricky issues when making redundancies.

  • Type:
    Letters and forms

    Redundancy selection matrix

    A model redundancy selection matrix to carry out a scoring exercise for employees in a redundancy pool and make a provisional selection for redundancy on the basis of the lowest scores.

About this topic

HR and legal information and guidance relating to redundancy selection criteria.

Redundancy selection crieria: key resources

Redundancy pay calculator

  • Is your organisation planning redundancies? Use the redundancy pay calculator to work out your statutory redundancy payment liabilities.