Client left - but I can't be made redundant - why?

[Frimley111R]

Asking for a friend here: She has worked for a large motoring organisation for 32 years and was on a team which provided concierge services to a major manufacturer. The manufacturer has pulled its contract and so now 3 people are out of a job. My friend would like redundancy but the company don't want to give it to her and want to put back in a job she did not like from 3 yrs ago.

Do they have to offer redeployment or redundancy? At the moment it's redeployment or she just has to leave.

I did some research and they legally have to give here about £13k but this is the statutory minimum and a colleague recently walked away with around £40k (same salary).

[Panamax]

A great deal will depend on what her contract of employment says. Then there's the question of what's reasonable. Length of service may also have a bearing on this. However, the short answer is there's probably no automatic "right to redundancy".

[dibblecorse]

How different is the job and do her terms change? As has been said, redundancy isn't a right, sounds like they can avoid that with a redeployment, she'd be hard pressed to make a case against it I suspect.

[Mandat]

Frimley111R said:

Asking for a friend here: She has worked for a large motoring organisation for 32 years and was on a team which provided concierge services to a major manufacturer. The manufacturer has pulled its contract and so now 3 people are out of a job. My friend would like redundancy but the company don't want to give it to her and want to put back in a job she did not like from 3 yrs ago.

Do they have to offer redeployment or redundancy? At the moment it's redeployment or she just has to leave.

I did some research and they legally have to give here about £13k but this is the statutory minimum and a colleague recently walked away with around £40k (same salary).

Sounds like they want her to leave of her own accord, rather than pay redundancy based on the 32 years of service.

[E-bmw]

Mandat said:

Frimley111R said:

Asking for a friend here: She has worked for a large motoring organisation for 32 years and was on a team which provided concierge services to a major manufacturer. The manufacturer has pulled its contract and so now 3 people are out of a job. My friend would like redundancy but the company don't want to give it to her and want to put back in a job she did not like from 3 yrs ago.

Do they have to offer redeployment or redundancy? At the moment it's redeployment or she just has to leave.

I did some research and they legally have to give here about £13k but this is the statutory minimum and a colleague recently walked away with around £40k (same salary).

Sounds like they want her to leave of her own accord, rather than pay redundancy based on the 32 years of service.

Similar to this they are not going to willingly pay someone (with that length of service) redundancy when a re-shuffle costs them less, although it isn't necessarily being done with malice.

[NDA]

Mandat said:

Sounds like they want her to leave of her own accord, rather than pay redundancy based on the 32 years of service.

Exactly this - and also (as above) there is no right to redundancy. I can understand why the company are doing this - it's damage limitation, despite it being irritating for your friend.

Is the move they are proposing a demotion? There's a slim chance of a constructive dismissal claim - although I'd not recommend this route.

[5lab]

if her job is similar to the other people's jobs, afaik the organisation would have to enter a consultation period which she'd be part of. They can choose the criteria for who passes the consultation, but everywhere I've been, if someone puts their hand up they will be selected for the redundancy over other people in the consultation.

If that fails she'd have to claim constructive dismissal if the new role is different enough from her old role, but that is a lot of work and heartache

[Alex Z]

It will all hinge on how different the other role is. It may not be identical but if it’s substantially the same then they are entitled to redeploy rather than offer redundancy.

If there is a greater difference between the two (as sounds like it might be the case) then they will be offering “suitable alternative employment” but the employee can decline if it’s not suitable.

https://www.acas.org.uk/your-rights-during-redunda...

[Inbox]

From my recollection you aren't entitled to redundancy, if voluntary is offered you could apply for it but they don't have to grant it.

[trevalvole]

Frimley111R said:

My friend would like redundancy but the company don't want to give it to her and want to put back in a job she did not like from 3 yrs ago.

Is the job they are offering at the same site as the current one? If not, and it is a significant distance away, then my recollection from some time ago is that it is effectively making them redundant.

[Frimley111R]

trevalvole said:

Frimley111R said:

My friend would like redundancy but the company don't want to give it to her and want to put back in a job she did not like from 3 yrs ago.

Is the job they are offering at the same site as the current one? If not, and it is a significant distance away, then my recollection from some time ago is that it is effectively making them redundant.

I'm not sure but it is in the same location.

[Plus4Four#]

What are the plans for your wife's retirement?
A lot of things to consider based on many factors.
Her age, pension options with the company, prospects for other jobs within the company to name three.
Look at all possible outcomes and decide on how to work with these. Accept the new post as a safety measure to rack up service benefits whilst looking for transfers etc.
A mate in the company I worked for wanted to retire but get redundancy as part of the package. Not a necessitybut the terms were very desirable. We discussed it and came up with a plan. Basically, make himself surplus to requirements by training staff to take on parts of his job, farm out work to others, then go his boss to say he was surplus so "you don't need me, make me redundant". His position was effectively removed, the job ceased to exist. He left with satisfactory terms. Took him a couple of years to achieve.
I did similar involving a move to another job as I wanted to reach a particular milestone that would improve my finances if I could get redundancy. I got lucky and managed it. Retired early with a good package and got a job elsewhere to generate an income until final retirement when I wanted it.
This was in the tobacco industry and the prospect of extended employment was dwindling anyway. The signs were pretty obvious. The factory I was at closed 2 years after I left. A culture was developing where deciding when and how to leave was important.