Ask Marina: I am worried I might be made redundant. What are my rights?

I am sorry to hear that things are difficult at work and I do hope that business picks up.

A redundancy situation occurs if your employer closes your place of work or if your employer is no longer carrying on the work you do or there is much less of it.

If those situations arise, and an employer needs to reduce its staff, it has to follow a proper fair process to choose who should be made redundant.

An employer has to consult with its employees or their elected representatives, by way of meetings and correspondence, in order to consider whether there are any alternatives to redundancies.

Hopefully, alternatives can be found such as changes in working practices or hours or reduced pay.

If, however, there is going to be no alternative to redundancies then the employer has to go through a fair process to select which employees would be made redundant.

If you were chosen in that process, your employer would then have to consider with you whether it had any suitable alternative employment to offer you.

If alternative employment was offered which was suitable then you would not be made redundant; you would simply change your job.

If 20 or more people may be made redundant there are strict rules about the process.

However, if you were made redundant you would be entitled to your notice period (either worked or paid in lieu), to take holiday or outstanding holiday pay and to be paid all your salary and benefits to the end of your notice period.

If you had been employed for two years at the expiry of your notice period you would also be entitled to Statutory Redundancy Pay.

This is currently calculated at your weekly pay up to £380 for every full year you have worked multiplied by a half, one, or one-and-a-half, dependent on your age.

Any years you have worked where you are under 22 the multiplier would be half.

Any years worked between the age of 22 and 40 will be multiplied by 1 and any years worked from the age of 41 upwards are multiplied by one-and-a-half.

The calculation can be a little tricky, but you can find a calculator at the Directgov website – www.direct.gov.uk.

Some employers operate their own redundancy schemes which pay their employees more than the statutory minimum by way of a redundancy payment.

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