Am I entitled to redundancy if there are no suitable alternative roles?

The company I work for is undergoing a restructure and as a result my role is being made redundant. I am not being ‘mapped’ into another role and everyone in this situation is being asked to review all of the roles which are available and choose to ‘express interest’ in up to three roles. We will then be informed if we will be interviewed or not and then if we are, go through an interview or other selection process. They are not offering voluntary redundancy. I have been with the company for over 12 years and they offer an enhanced redundancy package. My question is, as they are not ‘offering’ me a suitable alternative role, but asking me to apply for suitable alternatives (and my application may or may not be successful as there are likely to be more applicants than roles), am I obliged to apply for a role or not? If I don’t choose to apply for any role, would I automatically qualify for redundancy or could this be seen as unreasonable on my part and lead to dismissal with no redundancy payment?

Person putting their personal items into a cardboard box at work to depict redundancy

 

If you feel the roles are not suitable for you then you don’t have to apply for them. They can offer some roles to apply for, but they can’t make you apply for the roles, if you feel they aren’t suitable. That could be for a number of reasons such as:

  • pay
  • travelling time
  • skill requirements
  • status

However, if you apply for such a role and you are offered it then you turn down a suitable role, you may lose your entitlement to redundancy pay.  If you think the job may be unsuitable, but are still willing to give it a go, you can agree to try it out for a four-week trial period.

However, if you and your employer disagree about whether the alternative job is suitable, or over whether your decision to refuse it was reasonable, you may need to make a claim in an employment tribunal and explain why the job was unsuitable.
You are allowed to take reasonable time off to look for another job, the amount of time is up to 40% of your weeks paid, this can be agreed with your employer.




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