Acas warns over redundancy plans

Nearly a fifth of employers (18%) are likely to make staff redundancy plans over the next year, according to Acas.

A YouGov poll for Acas found that large businesses were more likely to make redundancies than small and medium sized (SME) businesses. Three out of 10 large businesses (30%) are likely to make redundancies and 10% of SMEs said that were likely to do so.

Acas Chief Executive, Susan Clews, said: “Acas advice for bosses is to exhaust all possible alternatives to redundancies first but if employers feel like they have no choice then they must follow the law in this area or they could be subject to a costly legal process.”

Acas has reminded employers of the procedures they must follow with regard to redundancies, depending on the number of redundancies they are considering, including consultation periods. If they do not follow the law on consultation, they risk being taken to an employment tribunal and could have to pay up to 90 days’ full pay for each affected employee. It adds that someone can also make a claim of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal on the grounds that they were not consulted, or the consultation was not meaningful.

Acas says employers should consider all possible options before considering redundancies in consultation with their staff, employee representatives and unions.

Acas says its advisers have seen many examples of this joint working that has produced creative alternatives to job losses, such as part-time working, cuts to overtime, finding alternative roles and retraining.

Meanwhile, a YouGov poll for Totaljobs shows the impact of labour shortages on stretched employees’ mental health. Thirty eight per cent of workers said they could not cope with their workload and that it was affecting their mental health. More than three-quarters said they had experienced at least one form of burnout since the start of the year, with almost half saying that hiring additional staff would help.

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