Acas offers advice on redundancies

On 6 April new government legislation came into effect which cut the consultation period from 90 to 45 days for employers proposing 100 or more redundancies. As a result, Acas has published new guidance on collective redundancies.

The 62-page guidance — How to manage collective redundancies — aims help employers understand their legal obligations and sets out the principles and behaviours behind a good quality consultation to help employers manage collective redundancies more effectively.

Acas chair Ed Sweeney said: “In 2011-12, 11% of Acas’ collective conciliation cases related to redundancies and of the 925,000 calls to our helpline, around 20% were seeking information on redundancy-related situations.

“This guide will help employers and employees understand the recent changes and the new laws around collective redundancies with top tips on how to handle them.”

Acas advises that for organisations to manage collective redundancies well and help ensure their future success, they need to have:

• good working relationships with employees, unions and employee representatives;

• agreed procedures for handling redundancies;

• an organisational culture that recognises the emotional as well as economic impact of change; and

• a plan for restructuring and looking to the future.

www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/c/n/How-to-manage-collective-redundancies.pdf