When must an employer consult employees?

A pay cut, new shift pattern or reorganisation at your care home, shop or warehouse can change what you take home and when you see your family. Workplace consultation means having information, time to respond and a chance to influence a proposal before the decision is final. Being told what will happen is not the same thing.

What is workplace consultation?

Consultation is a two-way discussion about a proposal, while there is still a chance to change it. Your employer gives you or your representatives enough information to respond, allows time to put forward alternatives and considers those responses. A meeting to announce a finished plan is information, not consultation.

Consultation does not give you a universal right to vote on management decisions or guarantee that your employer will agree. But where the law requires consultation, an announcement cannot replace it. Collective redundancy talks must seek agreement on avoiding dismissals, reducing their number and easing their effects. For planned TUPE measures, the employer must consider representatives’ objections, answer them and explain any rejection.

The employee consultation process: what to ask for

1. Get the proposal in writing. Save the announcement and the date you received it. Ask what is proposed, why, who is affected and when the employer wants it to happen. Distinguish a proposal from a decision it claims is already final.
2. Find out who speaks for you. Ask whether your recognised union or authorised employee representatives will be consulted. If representatives need to be elected, ask for the election arrangements. Some duties allow direct consultation; the employer cannot assume every route does.
3. Ask for time to respond. Request the consultation timetable and the information you need to challenge the proposal. Put your questions and alternatives in writing, with your union or representative’s help. The relevant minimum period depends on the change, as set out below.
4. Keep the answers. Save what you submitted and how the employer responded. If it refuses to consult or says nothing can change, take the documents to your union or Acas promptly. Do not wait for dismissal notices to ask for help.

Change of contract: what consultation period applies?

There is no fixed statutory consultation period for every contract change. Your employer ordinarily needs agreement to change a contractual term. A manager calling a meeting “consultation” does not settle whether you have agreed to a pay cut or different contractual hours. Ask exactly which terms would change and whether dismissal and re-engagement is being considered.

If your employer proposes to dismiss and re-engage 20 or more employees at one establishment within 90 days, collective redundancy consultation may apply even if the jobs themselves are not disappearing. In GB, it must start in good time and at least 30 days before the first dismissal for 20–99 proposed dismissals, or 45 days for 100 or more. These are minimum lead-in periods before dismissal, not a standard length for every consultation meeting or contract change.

Fewer than 20 does not mean your employer can impose any term it likes. The dismissal and re-engagement Code, in force in GB since 18 July 2024, calls for meaningful consultation for as long as reasonably possible where dismissal and re-engagement is contemplated, regardless of headcount. It sets no fixed number of days. If the Code applies and is unreasonably ignored, a tribunal can increase an award on a relevant claim by up to 25%. Breach of the Code alone is not a claim.

When is employee consultation legally required?

The duty depends on the proposed change, your employment status and sometimes the headcount. A single redundancy may still require a fair individual process below the collective threshold. Health and safety consultation applies in workplaces of any size. England, Wales and Scotland follow the GB rules below; Northern Ireland has important differences.

Trade union consultation: who represents you?

For collective redundancy and TUPE, a recognised independent trade union represents the employees in the group it covers. If there is no recognised union for your group, the employer can use existing employee representatives authorised for the issue or arrange a proper election. A lack of union recognition does not wipe out the consultation duty. Qualifying small TUPE cases have a direct-consultation route, explained below; ICE has its own process for choosing negotiating representatives.

Union recognition and employee voice without a union are different routes to representation. Unite, UNISON, GMB, USDAW and the IWGB organise workers across care, health, hospitality, retail and logistics. Ask your union for help with the proposal and the consultation process. Employee representatives have rights to paid time off and protection from dismissal or detriment for their representative role.

Collective redundancy consultation: the 20-dismissal trigger

If an employer proposes to dismiss 20 or more employees as redundant at one establishment within 90 days or less, it must begin consultation in good time and at least 30 days before the first dismissal takes effect; for 100 or more, the minimum is 45 days in Great Britain. The trigger is proposed dismissals, not how many employees ultimately lose their jobs. Dismissing and offering new contracts to impose different terms can count as dismissal as redundant for this purpose even if nobody’s role disappears. The one-establishment test leaves a gap when employers spread cuts across sites. In our view, employers benefit from that gap; the wider threshold scheduled for April 2027 has no number yet. See the statutory consultation duty.

The employer must give representatives written reasons, numbers and descriptions of employees at risk, the relevant employee totals, the selection method, the dismissal timetable and procedure, and the proposed calculation of any non-statutory redundancy payments. It must also disclose the number of agency workers it uses, where they work and what they do. Separately, it must notify the government on form HR1 before giving dismissal notices and at least 30 or 45 days before the first dismissal takes effect. Failure to notify is a criminal offence.

TUPE consultation when your job transfers or is outsourced

On a relevant business or service transfer, the old and new employers must inform representatives of employees who may be affected, including people who are not transferring. They must explain the transfer, its implications and any measures they envisage, or say that none are planned. If an employer envisages measures such as relocation or reorganisation, it must consult with a view to seeking agreement. There is no fixed 30-day TUPE minimum: information must come long enough before the transfer to permit consultation. The duties appear in TUPE regulation 13; see also what happens to the employment contract on a transfer.

For transfers from 1 July 2024, if the employer has fewer than 50 employees or fewer than 10 employees are transferring, and there are no appropriate representatives and no election has been invited, regulation 13A lets it inform and, where necessary, consult each affected employee directly. This is not an exemption from telling staff about the transfer. Larger cases without a recognised union can use already-authorised representatives or elected ones. A breach can mean compensation of up to 13 weeks’ pay per affected employee, assessed on seriousness, without the £751 redundancy-payment cap.

Employee consultation regulations: how to trigger ICE talks

You do not have to wait for a redundancy or transfer. The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004, usually called the ICE Regulations, let employees of a qualifying undertaking in Great Britain require negotiations over a lasting arrangement for information and consultation about the business, its workforce and major changes.

The undertaking must have at least 50 employees, calculated as an average over the previous 12 months. The employer can choose to count employees who work no more than 75 hours a month as half for this calculation. This is an employee threshold: a non-employee worker or self-employed contractor cannot sign an ICE request. Agency workers generally count with the agency, not the hirer, although the hirer may still have to disclose information about their use.

1. Ask for the headcount. Employees can request the information needed to test the 50-employee threshold and calculate the required support. If the employer refuses or gives incomplete or false information, a complaint to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) is possible after a month.
2. Put the request in writing. In GB it takes 2% of employees, with a floor of 15 and a ceiling of 2,500. Requests sent separately within six months can be combined. Each request must be dated, name its employees and go to the employer’s registered/head office or principal place of business, or to the CAC for a confidential route. At a 600-employee undertaking, 2% is only 12, so 15 employees must request it; at 3,000 employees, 60 suffice.
3. Choose negotiating representatives. Employees must have a say in their appointment or election. The employer must initiate the process within three months of a valid request; the negotiating window then lasts up to six months from the end of that three-month period, unless extended by agreement. A valid agreement can provide for direct consultation or representatives.
4. Know the ballot exception. If an approved written pre-existing agreement already covers everyone and fewer than 40% requested new talks, the employer may instead ask all employees to endorse the request in a ballot. It must announce the ballot within a month, and wait at least 21 days before holding it. Endorsement needs both a majority of voters and at least 40% of all employees: at a 600-person undertaking, that is at least 240 votes in favour. If endorsement fails, another request is barred for three years.

If negotiations fail, the statutory standard provisions take over, but not necessarily immediately: normally six months after the negotiating window expires, or sooner if information and consultation representatives are elected. If the employer does not negotiate at all, they generally start six months after the request or on that election, whichever comes first. The default rules require information on the business and its economic position; consultation about employment and threats to jobs, including suitable information on agency-worker use; and talks with a view to agreement on decisions likely to make substantial changes to work organisation or contracts. For a particular redundancy or TUPE consultation, the employer may give written notice that it will use that specific statutory route instead.

If an ICE arrangement is breached, staff can complain to the CAC. After a relevant CAC finding, the Employment Appeal Tribunal may impose a penalty of up to £75,000. That money is payable to the state, not shared as compensation among employees.

Health and safety consultation at work: your right to a say

Your employer must consult employees about health and safety, whatever the workplace’s size. That includes discussions about risks, training, new equipment and emergency procedures. Consultation must happen in good time; there is no set 30-day window and no need to wait until the workplace has 20 or 50 employees.

Where a recognised union has appointed safety representatives, they act for the employees they cover. Employees not covered by those representatives must be consulted directly or through elected representatives of employee safety. Ask who represents you and how to raise concerns before a change affecting safety is introduced. Keep the proposal and your questions in writing.

The HSE explains the two consultation regulations: the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996. Wider safety duties can protect workers and contractors too, but do not give all of them the same employee consultation rights. Raise safety concerns with your representative and the HSE or local enforcing authority. Read our workplace safety guide.

Consultation on pension changes, working hours and rest

Pension scheme changes

In Great Britain, a relevant employer with 50 or more employees must consult affected active or prospective members, directly where an agreement permits it or through representatives, before deciding on specified changes to occupational or employer-supported personal pension schemes. Examples include closing a scheme to future accrual, reducing accrual and increasing members’ contributions. The employer must explain the proposal in writing before consultation and allow at least 60 days, not merely “usually 60”. There are exclusions, including some public-service and small occupational schemes. The Pensions Regulator handles failures. See workplace pensions.

Workforce agreements on hours and rest

A change to working-time rules is not always an individual contract change. Under the Working Time Regulations, a collective or workforce agreement can modify specified night-work limits and rest entitlements. For objective or technical reasons, or reasons about work organisation, it can extend the normal 17-week averaging period for the 48-hour weekly limit up to 52 weeks. It cannot abolish that limit: a separate individual opt-out is needed for that.

A workforce agreement must be written, last no more than five years and cover the relevant workforce or group. Elected worker representatives sign it; if the employer has 20 or fewer workers, a majority of its workers may sign directly instead. Workers must see the text and receive the guidance they reasonably need before it is made available for signature. So a manager cannot simply announce that the team has “agreed” to lose rest breaks. See working-time limits and rest.

No consultation? Acas advice and your next steps

First identify which duty applies and whether you are an affected employee, a representative or a union: the person entitled to bring a complaint differs by claim. For collective redundancy, ask for the written proposals, the representative-election arrangements and the consultation timetable. A tribunal can make a protective award of up to 180 days’ actual applicable pay for each affected employee in GB. For TUPE, the limit is 13 weeks’ pay. Neither is simply the £751 statutory redundancy-payment cap. ICE arrangement disputes go to the CAC, with a possible state penalty rather than personal damages. Pension consultation complaints go to the Pensions Regulator; safety concerns can be raised with the HSE or local enforcing authority.

For relevant GB employment tribunal claims with a triggering date on or after 1 October 2026, the usual time limit is six months minus one day. This includes collective consultation complaints, measured from the last dismissal where it has taken effect, and TUPE consultation complaints, from the transfer. If the relevant date was before 1 October, the old three-month-minus-one-day limit still applies under the transitional rules. The change does not revive an expired claim. Notify Acas within your time limit: early conciliation pauses the clock, but does not rescue a deadline already missed. An unfair-dismissal claim has separate eligibility rules: the ordinary qualifying period is still two years, with a six-month period scheduled for dismissals taking effect from 1 January 2027. See how to bring a tribunal claim.

If you have been handed a final decision without consultation, save the announcement, your questions and any replies. Take them to your union, Acas, Citizens Advice or a local law centre. Ask which consultation duty applies, who can bring the complaint and what deadline you face. Acas early conciliation is a separate step before a relevant tribunal claim, not a substitute for the consultation your employer should have carried out.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

England, Wales and Scotland share the GB consultation rules above. Scotland has different court procedure for enforcing CAC orders. Northern Ireland has separate ICE and collective-redundancy legislation. Under NI’s ICE rules, a request needs 10% of employees (minimum 15, maximum 2,500) and can go to the Industrial Court rather than the CAC. For 20–99 redundancy dismissals at one establishment the minimum is 30 days; for 100 or more it is 90 days, not GB’s 45. The NI protective-award maximum remains 90 days. TUPE applies UK-wide, including the small-case direct route. For NI advice, use the Labour Relations Agency and our NI employment-law guide.

Employee consultation rules: what is in force and what is coming?

In force now in GB: the 2% ICE request threshold, small-case direct TUPE consultation, the 180-day protective-award limit for qualifying dismissals since April 2026, and the six-month-minus-one-day tribunal filing window for relevant dates on or after 1 October 2026. The government’s timetable, updated 22 October 2026, places restricted-variation dismissal protection in March 2027 and a further collective-redundancy threshold across establishments in April 2027. The latter depends on regulations that have not yet set the number; for now, apply the 20-at-one-establishment rule. There is no enacted reduction of the GB ICE undertaking threshold from 50 to 25 employees.

Questions about employee consultation

Is there a 30-day consultation period for a change of contract?

Not for every change. In GB, collective consultation must start at least 30 days before the first dismissal for 20–99 proposed redundancy dismissals at one establishment within 90 days, including qualifying dismissal and re-engagement; it is 45 days for 100 or more. The dismissal-and-re-engagement Code has no fixed period. Specified pension changes have a separate minimum of 60 days.

What does Acas say consultation should involve?

Acas consultation guidance is a starting point for understanding the process: information about the proposal, a chance for employees or representatives to respond, and consideration of those responses before the decision is final. The legal duty and timing depend on the change. If consultation has been refused, seek advice promptly; Acas early conciliation concerns a possible tribunal claim and is not the employer’s consultation process.

What if there is no trade union at work?

Collective redundancy and TUPE can use existing employee representatives authorised for the issue or elected representatives. Small qualifying TUPE transfers permit direct discussion if there are no representatives and no election has been invited. For health and safety, employees not covered by union-appointed representatives are consulted directly or through elected safety representatives. ICE employees choose negotiating representatives.

Can agency workers request ICE talks at the hirer?

They generally count with their agency, not the hirer, for ICE employee headcounts and requests. Their use must nevertheless be disclosed in specified ICE, redundancy and TUPE information duties. Employment status can matter in an individual case.

Does consultation mean the employer must agree with staff?

No. The employer must listen and consider responses while change is possible. Collective redundancy and the relevant ICE default duty require talks with a view to agreement; TUPE measures require seeking agreement and replying to representations. Agreement is not guaranteed.

Where does an ICE complaint go?

To the Central Arbitration Committee in GB; the Industrial Court is the equivalent route for NI ICE. An ICE detriment or dismissal claim belongs in the relevant employment tribunal, not the CAC. The CAC’s guide explains its complaint forms.

Sources

1. Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004, legislation.gov.uk
2. Information and Consultation Regulations: CAC guide, GOV.UK
3. Consulting employees, Acas
4. Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, ss.188–193, legislation.gov.uk
5. Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement and saving provisions, legislation.gov.uk
6. TUPE Regulations 2006, regs.13–16, legislation.gov.uk
7. Consulting workers on health and safety, HSE
8. Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Consultation by Employers) Regulations 2006, legislation.gov.uk
9. Working Time Regulations 1998, reg.23 and Sch.1, legislation.gov.uk
10. Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement, GOV.UK
11. Employment Rights Act 2025 time-limit commencement and transitional provisions, legislation.gov.uk
12. Employment tribunal time limits, Acas
13. Employment Rights Act implementation timetable, GOV.UK
14. Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996, art.216 and NI ICE Regulations 2005, reg.7, legislation.gov.uk
15. Central Arbitration Committee Annual Report 2023/24, Central Arbitration Committee
16. Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2026, Ministry of Justice