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Redundancies

Expert redundancy lawyers guiding you through the processes

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Wiltshire’s leading employment lawyers - Making an employee redundant

Making redundancies in the workplace is never an easy decision to come to, but, sadly, is often necessary to allow a business to grow and adapt to changing circumstances.

For example, there may be a technical solution that means a person is no longer needed, the business is moving in a different direction and a person’s expertise is no longer required, or you simply want to do things in a different way.

The Goughs approach to redundancy

Our team has a proactive, can-do, approach to all employment law matters. Our aim is to support you in running your business and provide you with tailored, comprehensive and practical advice. We are not here to tell you what to do, but to help you to make things happen, how and when you want.

When having to make the often very difficult decision of making employees redundant we can draw on our experience and guide you to a successful solution for all parties involved.

Rebecca Dennis

I have specialised in employment law for many years. I provide consistent and risk aware advice to employers and employees alike. My experience includes both contentious and non-contentious work. My professional background is unique in that I worked for more than 20 years as a barrister providing legal advice, drafting and advocacy for my clients and more recently provided specialist trouble-shooting services on employment law and employee relations at a leading international HR outsourcing company. I have a reputation as a pragmatist and problem solver. I am now proud to lead the Employment Department at Goughs.

Popular questions

What does future planning mean?

There are several steps you can take to ensure that your loved ones are protected in case of your death or if you were ill and unable to make your own decisions.

How can Goughs support me with later life planning?

Trying to plan your legal affairs and finances for later life can include

Minimising your Inheritance Tax liability
Sorting out pre-paid funeral plans
Setting up trusts for your family and protecting assets for future generations through a Will.
Appointing Attorneys to manage your financial affairs and to make health and welfare decisions on your behalf by Lasting Powers of Attorney is also an important part of the process.

How can you help my family with future planning?

The strategy will be different for each family, due to their unique circumstances and views on life. Nonetheless, the best advice is to plan early and have the right practical legal advice.

Why use Goughs?

We are specialists in elderly and future planning with a long established reputation in Wiltshire.

Our future planning team includes lawyers belonging to Solicitors for the Elderly who are also Dementia Friends or Dementia Champions

As an employer, you must follow a fair redundancy process. If your employee will have been with your company for 2 years or more on their last day of employment they will be entitled to a redundancy payment and could make claim for unfair dismissal if you get it wrong. There should be at least 1 meeting with your employee to discuss the potential redundancy. In terms of a formal process to follow, it is up to you as the employer to put in place a process which suits you and your business. There are no rules about what this should look like, but it must be clear, transparent, fair and reasonable if you wish to avoid a potential claim.

Employees you make redundant may be eligible for a redundancy payment. An eligible individual must: be an employee with a contract of employment have worked for you continuously for at least 2 years have been dismissed, laid off or put on short-time working. The payment must be made when you dismiss the employee, or very soon after. Please note that a redundant employee has the right to a written statement detailing the amount of the redundancy payment and how this was calculated.

Redundancy pay is calculated based on the employees length of service and their age. The length of service is capped at 20 years. Subject to a statutory act and the definition of ‘a weeks pay’ an employee gets: – 1.5 weeks pay for each full year of employment after their 41st birthday – a weeks pay for each full year of employment after their 22nd birthday – half a week’s pay for each full year of employment up to their 22nd birthday

At Goughs, our employment specialists can draft and tailor contracts and policies to fit your business needs, whilst ensuring they are reasonable and enforceable. We can help with both writing and reviewing existing contracts and advising on breach of employment contract issues. We have built up many years of experience and our team not only offer advice to businesses but also advise on broader business planning issues and sit on various advisory boards, ensuring that our advice and expertise looks beyond the contract itself and ensures all advice really is in the best interest of the future of the business.

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