A formal redundancy letter can feel final. Use these eight checks to identify questions worth asking; none alone proves that your dismissal was unlawful. The details below describe Great Britain as at 30 September 2026; Northern Ireland has separate redundancy rules and tribunal routes.
Reasons and payments. Ask for the reason, notice date and a breakdown of statutory, contractual, notice and holiday payments. Employees with at least two years' service can request written reasons for dismissal; written information may also arise under collective rules. There is no universal entitlement to an identical redundancy letter for everyone. Check age, length of service and gross weekly pay against the official calculator.
Meaningful consultation. Employers should consult employees before a final redundancy decision. Record what was said, ask what alternatives were considered and give your suggestions. The law does not prescribe a fixed duration for every individual consultation.
Collective rules. If an employer proposes 20 or more redundancies at one establishment within 90 days, it normally must consult appropriate representatives and notify the government using HR1. Consultation must begin at least 30 days before the first dismissal for 20–99 proposed redundancies, or 45 days for 100 or more, subject to exceptional circumstances. For failures, a tribunal can award a protective award, up to 180 days' pay for relevant GB breaches from 6 April 2026; two years' service is not needed. Do not assume the trigger just because 20 people left across different sites or dates.
Selection. Where employees are selected from a group, ask for the pool, criteria and your scores, and compare them to your records. There is no universal automatic one-month right to obtain every colleague's scoring matrix. A subject access request normally has a one-month response period for your personal data, subject to extensions and exemptions.
Alternative roles. The employer should consider suitable alternative employment and discuss vacancies, potentially including relevant roles elsewhere in the organisation or group depending on circumstances. There is no absolute guarantee of an offer from every group company. Save relevant advertised vacancies and ask why they were not suitable.
Pregnancy and family leave. In qualifying protected periods for pregnancy, maternity, adoption and some shared parental leave, an employee must be offered a suitable available alternative vacancy in priority to others at risk. The duration depends on the type of leave and circumstances; maternity protection can extend to 18 months after birth. Failure can make dismissal automatically unfair, but only where the statutory conditions, including an available suitable vacancy, are met.
Appeal and companion. Acas recommends an appeal and allowing a companion at redundancy meetings, but there is no general statutory appeal or accompaniment right for every individual redundancy consultation. Check the employer's policy and its deadlines. Do not assume an appeal suspends tribunal time limits.
Union activity. Selection because of trade union membership or activities may be automatically unfair without the ordinary qualifying service; simply being a union representative among those selected does not by itself establish the reason.
Many GB unfair-dismissal claims require Acas early conciliation notified within three months less one day of the effective termination date. Other claims can have different trigger dates. Do not wait for an appeal, grievance or documents before checking time limits. In Northern Ireland use LRA redundancy guidance and LRA conciliation.
Tools: https://myredundancyrights.co.uk/action-plan · https://myredundancyrights.co.uk/faq
Official sources: Acas redundancy consultation; Acas collective consultation; Acas redundancy appeal; Acas Employment Rights Act changes; GOV.UK redundancy rights; Acas tribunal time limits. General information only.