Fake redundancy: when “redundancy” is really a dismissal in disguise
Your employer calls it redundancy. The job advert says otherwise. Here's what to ask for, what the law tests and how to protect your claim.
Your redundancy letter arrives. Two weeks later, the same night-cleaning job is advertised under a new title. Save that advert. It does not prove your case on its own, but your employer owes you an explanation. Ask who will do your work, why you were selected and which vacancies were considered. Do not let an appeal use up your time to challenge the dismissal.
- 2 years
- ordinary unfair-dismissal service requirement in GB on 1 October 2026
- 4 weeks
- statutory trial when alternative employment terms differ
- 180 days
- maximum protective award for proposals from 6 April 2026
- £751
- GB weekly redundancy pay cap from 6 April 2026
What to do today
Start with the documents and the deadline. You do not need to have worked out the whole legal case.
- Keep a lawful copy. Save your letters, contract, rotas and payslips away from your work account. Screenshot the job advert and its date. Note who took over your duties. Do not copy confidential records you have no right to take.
- Ask for the decision’s workings. Request the business reason, selection pool, criteria, your scores and supporting evidence, and available vacancies. Ask for anonymised comparison scores where needed to understand your selection. Keep the sent message.
- Challenge it in writing. Before dismissal, raise objections during consultation. After the decision, appeal within the employer’s deadline. Say what should change, such as the pool, a score or the failure to offer a vacancy.
- Get someone on your side. Contact your union rep. Usdaw covers retail, UNISON covers care and NHS support, and Unite and GMB organise across warehouses, food, security and hospitality. IWGB organises delivery and gig workers. If joining now, ask whether help covers an existing dispute. Free advice is available from Acas, Citizens Advice and local law centres, subject to their services and capacity.
- Protect the tribunal deadline now. Notify Acas in time, whether or not the appeal has finished. A grievance or appeal does not pause the clock. Timely notification for early conciliation does. Use the deadline calculator with an adviser if the dates are complicated.
- Do not sign away your claim on the day. Statutory redundancy pay does not require a settlement agreement. An enhanced package may require one. Get advice on the terms before accepting an offer that waives claims.
If your visa depends on this employer, get immigration advice before you resign or refuse a role you could do. See what happens if the sponsor licence goes.
A new job title is not a smaller need for the work.
What the law actually calls redundancy
Section 139 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 asks whether the dismissal is wholly or mainly attributable to a business closure, closure at the place where you worked, or a reduced need for employees to do work of a particular kind. An intended closure or an expected reduction can qualify too.
A hotel closing its kitchen can make staff redundant. A warehouse reducing ten picker posts to six can also make genuine redundancies, even though picking continues. Simply swapping you for a cheaper picker while keeping the same operation and staffing need points to a different reason for dismissal. Calling it redundancy does not make that reason fair.
Genuine redundancy and fair dismissal are separate questions. Even where fewer employees are needed, your employer must still deal fairly with selection, consultation and alternatives.
| Ask | What the answer can reveal |
|---|---|
| What has closed, or why are fewer employees needed? | If neither applies, the employer needs to explain the real reason for dismissal. |
| Why was this selection pool chosen? | Excluding colleagues doing similar or interchangeable work needs a reasonable explanation. A pool of one is not automatically unfair. |
| What could consultation actually change? | A decision already fixed before you were heard can make the process unfair. |
| How were the scores reached, and which vacancies were considered? | Unsupported scores, pregnancy-related absence counted against you or ignored alternatives are grounds to challenge. |
Selection because of pregnancy, maternity, protected union activity, whistleblowing or certain other protected reasons can be automatically unfair without the usual service requirement. Discrimination is a separate claim and also has no minimum service requirement. Read how to challenge discrimination and whistleblowing protection.
The patterns that give a sham away
Look for contradictions between the explanation and what happens on the rota. These are warning signs, not automatic verdicts.
The job comes back under a new title
Suppose a night cleaner is made redundant and the site advertises for a “hygiene operative, nights” two weeks later. Or a kitchen porter leaves and a “kitchen assistant” starts doing the same duties. Compare the hours, location, responsibilities and pay as well as the title. Save both job descriptions and ask what changed between the dismissal and the advert.
A later hire can undermine the employer’s account. It is not conclusive if circumstances changed after the decision. Nor does handing your tasks to remaining colleagues automatically prove a sham. Fewer employees may genuinely be needed. Outsourcing can also reduce the employer’s need for its own employees, but TUPE transfer rights may apply. Get advice before accepting that outsourcing ends your rights.
A pool of one
A pool of one can be reasonable for a genuinely unique role. The question is why the employer excluded other people doing similar or interchangeable work. Three night-shift carers on the same unit may have different responsibilities, but the employer should explain why only one was at risk. A supermarket selecting only you, then asking other checkout staff to cover your hours, has questions to answer. Record names, duties and shifts. A tribunal examines whether the employer’s choice was reasonable, not whether there was only one possible pool.
The meeting after the decision
Below the collective threshold, there is no fixed statutory consultation period. Fairness still calls for warning and meaningful discussion before dismissal is settled, including selection and ways to avoid losing your job. Acas explains the process. You should also be offered an appeal after the decision. A meeting that merely reads out a done deal is no substitute for consultation. Ask when the decision was made and what your objections could change.
Scores you are not allowed to see
Ask who scored you and what evidence they used. Point out a shift swap recorded as an absence or pregnancy appointments counted against you. Disability-related absence may need separate treatment too. Criteria that disadvantage staff because of race, sex, disability or age can raise discrimination issues. Length of service should not be treated as automatically fair merely because it is easy to count.
With two years’ continuous service, you can request written dismissal reasons under section 92. The employer must provide them within 14 days of the request. You do not have only 14 days after dismissal to ask. Employees dismissed while pregnant, or whose maternity or adoption leave ends because of dismissal, are entitled to written reasons without asking and without a service requirement. The ordinary service threshold is scheduled to fall to six months on 1 January 2027.
The worse job dressed up as an alternative
Your employer should search for suitable alternative employment and offer available suitable jobs. Suitability depends on the work, terms, pay, status, hours, location and your circumstances. For a care worker who finishes at 3pm for the school run, nights across the county may be impossible. Explain the childcare and travel problem in writing. Do not rely on “it is a worse job” alone.
You need not accept an unsuitable role. But if the role is suitable and your refusal is unreasonable, you can lose statutory redundancy pay under section 141. Suitability and the reasonableness of refusal are different questions. Get advice before rejecting an offer.
Where the new terms differ, section 138 provides a four-week statutory trial. Tell the employer during the trial if the job is unsuitable and explain why. Do not keep working beyond it without advice. An extension for retraining must be agreed in writing before the trial starts. A trial does not remove the risk of losing pay through an unreasonable refusal.
Employees in the protected pregnancy or maternity, adoption and shared-parental-leave periods have priority for suitable alternative vacancies. The extended protection took effect in April 2024 and covers some returners too. If covered, you must be offered a suitable available vacancy rather than made to compete for it. The rules differ by leave type and timing, so check the Acas protection periods. Breaching this duty can make dismissal automatically unfair. It does not prevent redundancy where there is no suitable vacancy.
When 20 people are going, the rules change
In Great Britain, if your employer proposes 20 or more redundancy dismissals at one establishment within 90 days or less, section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act requires collective consultation with the recognised union or elected employee representatives. You should still receive individual consultation. The count is employees, including zero-hours staff who are employees in law.
Consultation must begin in good time and at least 30 days before the first dismissal for 20 to 99 proposed dismissals, or 45 days for 100 or more. The employer must also notify the government using form HR1, before giving dismissal notices and within the applicable minimum lead time. Failure to notify is a criminal offence. Failure to consult is a different breach, for which a tribunal can make a protective award.
For redundancy proposals from 6 April 2026, that award can be up to 180 days’ actual gross pay per affected employee. The maximum doubled from 90 days. There is no statutory weekly pay cap or two-year service requirement for this award. It is a ceiling, not a promised payment. For example, at a constant £420 a week, 180 ÷ 7 × £420 is £10,800 gross. Speak to your rep about who should bring the claim. See collective redundancy rights.
The 2025 Act provides for an additional organisation-wide threshold. The number still needs regulations. As at 1 October 2026, do not assume that adding up redundancies across separate establishments activates this new rule. The operative trigger remains 20 or more at one establishment; the wider change is scheduled for 2027.
What the money actually is
Statutory redundancy pay and unfair-dismissal compensation are different. Redundancy pay normally requires employee status and two years’ continuous service. Under section 162, each full year counts for half a week’s pay when aged under 22, one week’s pay when aged 22 to 40, and one and a half weeks when aged 41 or over. Only the last 20 years count.
For GB redundancies with a relevant date from 6 April 2026, weekly pay is capped at £751, giving a maximum statutory payment of £22,530. GOV.UK describes weekly pay as the average earned in the 12 weeks before notice. If your hours vary, ask payroll to show its calculation. Use the redundancy pay calculator with your actual dates.
The first £30,000 of qualifying termination payments, including redundancy pay, is usually tax-free. Wages, holiday pay and notice pay are taxable. GOV.UK explains the distinction. A contractual redundancy scheme can pay more than the statutory minimum.
Example: a picker and a care worker
Jordan has just turned 34 and has nine complete years’ service as a warehouse picker, all in the one-week age band. Gross weekly pay is £380. Statutory redundancy pay is 9 × £380 = £3,420. Statutory notice is nine weeks, unless the contract gives more. Notice pay is separate.
Nia starts work on her 38th birthday and leaves on her 50th birthday, with 12 complete years as a care worker and £300 gross weekly pay. Counting backwards, nine years are in the 41-and-over band and three are in the one-week band. That gives 13.5 + 3 = 16.5 weeks, or £4,950. Her statutory notice reaches the 12-week maximum. Real birthdays and employment dates matter. See notice periods.
Example: compensation for a shop worker
Sam starts on their 39th birthday and is unfairly dismissed on their 45th, with six complete years and £420 gross weekly pay. Four years count at one and a half weeks and two at one week. The basic award before reductions is 8 × £420 = £3,360. Redundancy pay already received is deducted from the basic award, so Sam cannot collect both in full.
The compensatory award is separate and depends on actual loss. For 26 weeks without work, gross wages missed would be 26 × £420 = £10,920, but that is not the compensation calculation. Earnings loss normally uses take-home pay and takes account of replacement earnings, steps to find work and other relevant losses. Compensation can also be reduced if a fair process would have led to dismissal anyway.
For ordinary unfair dismissal with the relevant date from 6 April 2026, the current compensatory ceiling is the lower of £123,543 and 52 weeks’ gross pay. Some claims, including whistleblowing dismissals, are not subject to that cap. Its removal for ordinary unfair dismissal is scheduled for 1 January 2027. No cap guarantees a payout.
If the employer is insolvent, claim from the National Insurance Fund: statutory redundancy pay, up to 8 weeks’ unpaid wages, up to 12 weeks’ notice and up to 6 weeks’ holiday, each capped at £751. Start at GOV.UK. If the wage has stopped, check Universal Credit the same week. A tribunal award will not pay this month’s rent.
Under two years, and if you are not called an employee
The service rules above are for employees in Great Britain. Someone who is legally a worker but not an employee has no statutory redundancy pay or ordinary unfair-dismissal right and does not count towards the collective threshold. Labels do not decide status. A contract saying “self-employed” does not settle the question.
Employee
- Statutory redundancy pay normally after two years
- Ordinary unfair-dismissal protection after two years, scheduled to fall to six months from 1 January 2027
- Counts towards the collective consultation threshold
- Written reasons after qualifying service, with pregnancy, maternity and adoption exceptions
Worker but not employee
- No statutory redundancy pay or ordinary unfair-dismissal right
- Not counted towards the collective threshold
- Discrimination and whistleblowing protections can still apply
- Status depends on the working relationship. See employee, worker or self-employed
Agency staff may be employed by the agency rather than the client. Ending a booking is not necessarily dismissal from the agency. Check both relationships and whether the agency is ending your employment. See agency workers. Zero-hours staff can be employees with redundancy rights. Non-renewal of a fixed-term contract can be a dismissal and may be a redundancy. An expiry date does not excuse unfair selection or discrimination.
If you have under two years’ service, your employer’s reason still matters. Pregnancy, protected union activity, whistleblowing, certain health-and-safety reasons and asserting specified statutory rights can support automatically unfair dismissal claims without the usual service requirement. Discrimination claims also need no minimum service. Notice pay and unpaid wages are separate rights. See unfair dismissal.
How to challenge it, and how long you have
Appeal and request the evidence, but do not wait for a response before protecting your claim. You can notify Acas for early conciliation while an appeal is running. If settlement is not reached, you normally need the conciliation certificate to submit your tribunal claim.
For most GB unfair-dismissal claims where employment ends on or after 1 October 2026, the starting limit is six months minus one day. The date is normally the end of your notice period, or the effective dismissal date if no notice is given. Discrimination may have a different starting date, so calculate each claim separately.
Example: the deadline before conciliation
If your effective dismissal date is 1 October 2026, the ordinary six-month-minus-one-day deadline is 31 March 2027, before any early-conciliation adjustment. Notify Acas before the deadline. Timely notification pauses the clock until conciliation ends, but you still need to calculate and meet the adjusted tribunal filing date. Do not simply add six months to the certificate date.
There is no fee to lodge a tribunal claim. That does not make the process quick or guarantee that an award will be paid. Read how a claim runs before budgeting around a hearing.
If you win and the employer does not pay, use the unpaid-award penalty enforcement and naming scheme, now run by the Fair Work Agency. A penalty is not payment of your award. Ask your adviser about recovery as well.
What is in force, and what is only scheduled
A promised right is not a right you already have.
- The 2025 Act becomes law
Royal Assent did not bring every provision into force.
- Higher caps and protective award, in force
GB weekly redundancy pay cap £751; maximum statutory payment £22,530. The maximum collective-consultation protective award is 180 days for proposals from this date.
- Longer tribunal limit, in force
Most GB claims arising from this date have a six-month-minus-one-day starting limit. Earlier dismissals normally retain the shorter limit.
- Service and compensation changes, scheduled
The ordinary unfair-dismissal qualifying period falls to six months and its compensatory cap is removed. The written-reasons service threshold also falls to six months. These are not the rules for an October 2026 dismissal.
- Fire-and-rehire protections, scheduled
New automatically unfair dismissal rules for defined contract changes and replacement arrangements are due. Exceptions and scope matter. They are not in force on 1 October 2026. See fire and rehire.
- Wider collective threshold, scheduled
An additional organisation-wide threshold still requires regulations. Do not use an assumed number today.
Questions people ask
My job was advertised under a new title. Does that prove a sham?
No, but it is evidence worth keeping. Compare the duties, hours and location, and ask what changed. A replacement doing the same job in an unchanged operation can contradict a reduced-need explanation. A genuine later change in circumstances may explain a new hire.
Can my employer use a pool of one?
Yes, where the choice is reasonable. A unique role is one explanation. If colleagues do similar or interchangeable work, ask why they were excluded. One person’s name on the list does not settle fairness either way.
Does one consultation meeting count?
There is no fixed number of individual meetings. What matters is whether you had a meaningful chance to influence the proposal before dismissal was decided. A meeting to announce a decision already made is not that chance.
Can anything be done with under two years’ service?
In Great Britain, ordinary unfair dismissal normally still requires two years as at 1 October 2026. Automatically unfair reasons and discrimination can support claims without that service. Check notice pay too. The scheduled six-month unfair-dismissal qualification from January 2027 does not reduce redundancy pay’s two-year requirement.
Must you accept a lower-paid alternative?
Not automatically. The job’s suitability and your reasons for refusing it both matter. An unreasonable refusal of suitable work can cost statutory redundancy pay. Explain the pay, travel or childcare problem in writing and get advice. A statutory four-week trial may help where the terms differ.
How long is there to challenge a fake redundancy?
For most GB unfair-dismissal claims arising from 1 October 2026, the starting deadline is six months minus one day. Earlier dismissals normally have three months minus one day. Timely Acas notification pauses time, but an appeal does not. Interim relief can require action within seven days. Northern Ireland uses separate rules and the LRA.
Sources
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 139, redundancy definition, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 162, redundancy pay calculation, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 123, compensatory loss and mitigation, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 92, written reasons, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 138, alternative employment and trial, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 141, refusal of alternative employment, legislation.gov.uk
- Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992, section 188, collective consultation, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025, section 29, wider consultation threshold, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025, section 30, protective award, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025, commencement regulations for January 2027 changes, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Increase of Limits Order 2026, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025, in-force and scheduled changes, Acas
- Employment tribunal time limits, including early conciliation and interim relief, Acas, updated 1 October 2026
- Redundancy consultation and selection, Acas
- Pregnancy, maternity and redundancy protection periods, Acas
- Statutory redundancy pay, GOV.UK
- Suitable alternative employment and trial periods, GOV.UK
- Tax and National Insurance on redundancy payments, GOV.UK
- Claim redundancy and other payments if your employer is insolvent, GOV.UK
- HR1 redundancy notification form, GOV.UK
- Increased collective redundancy protective award, GOV.UK
- Northern Ireland redundancy pay, Labour Relations Agency
- Northern Ireland redundancy limits from April 2026, Department for the Economy, 23 March 2026
- Tribunal statistics, April to June 2026, employment tribunal caseload and data caveats, Ministry of Justice
- Employment tribunal penalty enforcement and naming scheme, GOV.UK
- Employment Rights Northern Ireland Order 1996, article 145, unfair-dismissal time limit, legislation.gov.uk
- Pregnancy and maternity discrimination research findings, EHRC and BIS, 2016