Selecting employees for redundancy must be done in a fair way and not discriminate against any individuals or groups.
It’s a good idea to use selection criteria to help you choose which employees to make redundant.
You should base the criteria on:
- standard of work
- skills, qualifications or experience
- attendance record (do not include absence relating to disability or maternity)
- disciplinary record
You must not select employees because of their:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- marriage or civil partnership status
- pregnancy or maternity leave
- race
- religion or belief
- sex
- sexual orientation
- family-related leave – for example parental, paternity or adoption leave
- role as an employee or trade union representative
- membership of a trade union
- part-time or fixed-term employee status
- pay and working hours, including the Working Time Regulations, annual leave and the National Minimum Wage
Make sure your criteria does not indirectly discriminate against any of these groups. For example, if you use flexible working as a criterion, you could be discriminating against women. You would need to show that flexible working is no longer possible after your business has changed.
Agree criteria with employees
You should consult employees to identify and agree on selection criteria. For example, you could sit with employees to work out the skills and experience needed for your business in the future.
The more open and collaborative your selection process is, the more your employees will trust that it’s fair.
Select employees in a fair way
It’s a good idea to score employees against all the agreed selection criteria. This will help you avoid relying on one particular criterion and can lower the risk of discriminating against employees.
It will also help you:
- be objective when selecting employees
- easily share with staff how the selection process works
- explain your decisions at employment tribunals
Ask employees to reapply for their jobs
You can ask employees to reapply for their jobs to help you decide who to select. You should still use criteria when you interview to make sure you’re selecting people in a fair way.
How to score employees
You can decide how much you want to score each criterion. You should also provide written evidence to support your score.
You do not have to use the points system used in this guide, it’s just an example. The ‘standard of work’ criteria could look like:
| Criteria: standard of work | Score | Evidence |
| Outstanding | 15 | |
| Exceeds objectives for the role | 12 | |
| Meets all objectives for the role | 9 | |
| Meets some objectives of the role | 6 | |
| Fails to meet objectives for the role | 3 |
Decide which criteria are most important
You can adjust the points you give for each criterion. For example, if it’s agreed that ‘attendance record’ is less important you can allocate fewer points. This creates a ‘weighting’ which allows you to be more flexible in how you score employees.
Apply the selection criteria to the group of employees at risk of redundancy. This is sometimes known as the ‘pool of selection’.
Set up an appeals process
You should set up an appeals process for employees who feel they have been unfairly selected. This can reduce the chances of someone making a claim against you to an employment tribunal.
You should explain in your redundancy plans how someone can appeal. You might meet with employees face-to-face to listen to their concerns or ask them to write a letter or email explaining why they do not agree with your decision.
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This article has been adapted from the ACAS website
