Preparing a redundancy consultation document can feel daunting, particularly when managing organisational change within a school or trust.
A thorough and well-structured consultation document allows you to explain the reasons behind proposed redundancies, outline the process clearly, and encourage meaningful consultation with employees and recognised trade unions, allowing for constructive feedback and input in return.
Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, effective communication and meaningful consultation between schools and trusts, their employees and trade unions have become more vital than ever. Failure to consult appropriately could result in increased union activity, legal risk and employee relations issues.
In this guide, we'll share tips on how to put together a clear and concise consultation document for redundancy, that allows for constructive conversations to take place.
Where an employer proposes to dismiss 20 or more employees, there is a legal duty to consult under Section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act (TULRCA) 1992.
Collective consultation should begin:
Although collective consultation is not legally required where fewer than 20 redundancies are proposed, within the education sector where union memberships are traditionally high, consulting with employees and trade unions are often requirements of internal redundancy procedures or policies.
Early, open consultation helps build trust, reduces uncertainty and provides opportunities to explore alternatives to redundancy.
In the event of restructuring, it’s essential that schools and trusts provide comprehensive information to employees and the relevant trade unions on the need for reductions and provide employees with enough information to engage meaningfully in the consultation process.
This information is provided as a consultation document and should be both accurate and relevant to the situation.
A well-written consultation document should contain written information about the process that presents your case to employees and unions.
These should be sound and genuine business reasons.
Examples include:
Where financial savings are the driver, supporting financial information should be included where appropriate. This should align with the business case presented to governors or the Trust Board.
These should include pay grades, hours and job descriptions. This helps employees understand exactly which roles are being considered.
This information is required as part of collective consultation obligations.
Explain how employees will be selected for redundancy, particularly where you have more than one person carrying out the same role.
This should include:
The process should be objective, transparent and capable of withstanding scrutiny.
Explain how the redundancy process will be managed in line with your school or trust procedure, including:
Where different employee groups are affected at different times, make this clear.
Explain:
Providing this information early helps employees understand their entitlements.
Your document should explain the steps the school or trust will continue to take to mitigate against the need to make redundancies, and should take place throughout the whole process, not just the consultation.
This includes:
It’s important to consider the language used in the consultation document to avoid sounding like the decision has already been made.
A consultation must be meaningful and outcomes shouldn’t be predetermined.
To portray your desired message, use wording such as:
There is no fixed consultation period where fewer than 20 redundancies are proposed. However, many schools and trusts specify a minimum consultation period within their own policies.
Typically, we see consultation periods of 10 working days up to 30 working days, depending on the circumstances, such as:
Where collective consultation applies, the statutory minimum periods of 30 or 45 days must be followed.
A meaningful consultation process gives employees and trade union representatives the opportunity to:
Your consultation period gives you space to consider and respond to any suggestions made by employees and trade unions. Although employers must genuinely consider any suggestions received, you are entitled to reject ideas that you do not think are reasonable, though you must clearly set out your reasons why.
Effective consultation often strengthens employee relations while reducing legal risk.
Where more employees perform a role than the number of positions available following restructuring, a fair selection process will usually be required. The criteria and method for selecting employees should also be included in the documentation, such as:
Providing employees with the opportunity to respond before assessments begin is an important part of a fair consultation process.
Managing redundancy and organisational change is never an easy task for leadership teams to be faced with. Consultations can be a challenging proposition to conduct, requiring careful planning, clear communication and sensitivity for all parties involved.
Whether you’re responding to budget pressures, or restructuring teams, our experienced HR Consultants provide practical, impartial support throughout every stage of the redundancy process, whilst minimising disruption to your staff, pupils and wider school community.
If your school or trust is considering a restructure or redundancy process, we're here to help.
Explore our HR Consultancy services, or get in touch for confidential advice tailored to your organisation.