Buddy says:  The obligation to collectively consult about redundancy only arises where 20 or more employees you are proposing to make redundant are all from the same establishment and are employed by the same employer. As such, even if the employees are situated in the same office/site, for the purposes of the collective consultation obligations, employee numbers need only be considered in respect of each limited company. So for example, if your business is made up of four companies situated in the same building and each company is proposing to dismiss 10 employees, even though this amounts to 40 employees in total, the duty to consult collectively will not arise.

Employer information:  If several associated employers all operate from one set of premises, even if the combined operation can be regarded as one establishment, each employer's batch of redundancies must be considered separately. Several sister companies can each declare 18 redundancies without giving rise to any duty to consult under collective consultation legislation. Although the group might have declared more than 20 redundancies at the same establishment, no single employer has declared 20 or more redundancies at that establishment and accordingly, the collective consultation obligation does not kick in.

If follows that when establishing whether an employer is obliged to consult for a minimum of 30 or 90 days, the number of employees must be calculated separately in relation to each company.  Employers should note that when counting the number of employees that an employer is proposing to make redundant voluntary redundancies must be included.

Where the duty to collectively consult does arise, employers are still required to consult with employees individually.  Hence, even if the duty to collectively consult does not apply to each company, you should still ensure that you consult with employees individually. This is advisable as if an employee who is made redundant subsequently brings a claim for unfair dismissal, a failure to consult will normally render the dismissal unfair.

Where the duty to collectively consult arises, the employer must consult all appropriate representatives of the employees who may be made redundant. (For further information on identifying the appropriate representative, see our buddy factsheet “TUPE and Redundancy Collective Consultation”).