At risk of redundancy letter checklist

Read the Letter to make sure it meets your business’ needs. Remember that, if you have any questions, you can Ask a lawyer for advice.

The employer’s signatory (ie representative) must sign the Letter on the employer’s behalf. 

You can sign your At Risk of Redundancy Letter by either:

• signing online using RocketSign, or

• signing in print, by downloading, printing, and signing and dating the document

Before signing, check whether the relevant employee’s Employment contract specifies that you must sign letters like this one in print. You should follow any such requirements.

An At Risk of Redundancy Letter is a formal notice which must be served (ie sent) properly.

You can usually serve an At Risk of Redundancy Letter in various ways, as long as you ensure your employee receives it. The safest way to send the Letter is usually to deliver it to the employee in person. Failing this, you may send your Letter by:

• courier or post

  • use a tracked delivery service and keep a copy of the proof of posting and delivery

  • check you have the employee’s latest address

• email

  • you can sign the Letter online and attach a copy of it to an email to the employee

  • request a ‘read receipt’ as proof of service

Always check an employee’s Employment contract before sending them an At Risk of Redundancy Letter. Employment contracts may specify that letters (or ‘notices’) regarding employment must be sent to the employee in a specific way (eg not via email). You must follow any such requirements to ensure that your Letter is valid.

A copy of your At Risk of Redundancy Letter will be stored automatically in your Rocket Lawyer account ‘Dashboard’. You should also download and securely store a copy of your Letter for your records.

You should also securely store:

•  any proof of service, for example: 

  • Royal Mail receipts or courier receipts

  • signed and dated statements from witnesses that watched you hand deliver the Letter

  • emails or messages from employees acknowledging that they’ve received the Letter

  • email ‘read receipts’

• copies of anything else (eg other documents) that were sent with the Letter

It is respectful and demonstrates good practice to, where possible, tell an employee in person that they’re at risk of redundancy before you deliver them an At Risk of Redundancy Letter.

You should also make sure to give employees a chance to ask questions about the redundancy process and to follow fair procedure throughout the process. For more information, read Redundancy.