MAKE YOUR FREE At Risk of Redundancy Letter

Making your At Risk of Redundancy Letter online is simple. Just answer a few questions and Rocket Lawyer will build your document for you. When you have all the information about your processes prepared in advance, creating your document is a quick and easy process. 

You’ll need the following information:

The employer and the employee

• What is the employer’s name, address, and legal structure? If it’s a company:

  • What is its company number?  

  • Is it part of a group of companies?

• Who is the employer’s signatory, if it’s a company or a partnership? This is the person who will sign the Letter on the company’s or partnership’s behalf.

• What is the address of the employer’s business premises being affected by redundancy (if this is different from its usual address)?

• What is the job title of the person who employees should contact with questions or concerns about redundancy?

• What are the name, address, and job title of the employee at risk of redundancy?

Reasons for redundancy

• Why is the employer considering making redundancies? You must have a valid reason. For example, a change to the structure of the business.

• Does the redundancy involve closing one of the business’ premises or reducing the number of employees in certain roles?

The role and selection processes

• Is the role that’s being considered for redundancy going to: 

  • Stop existing? 

  • Be modified or merged with another role? If so, which role will replace the employee’s current role? Will a selection process be involved for the new role? If so, will candidates be selected from other roles as well as the relevant employee’s?

  • Be performed by fewer people? If so, how many people currently perform the role and how many will in future? Will candidates for redundancy be selected from the other roles as well as the employee’s role?

  • Or, is it based at premises that are going to close?

• If you’re considering employees from multiple roles for redundancy, which roles are being considered?

• If you’re using a selection process for redundancy: 

  • What are the selection criteria?

  • What’s the deadline by which employees should give feedback on the redundancy process?

  • Will a group meeting be held to discuss the redundancy process and criteria? If so, when?

Voluntary redundancy

• Will the employer invite employees to apply for voluntary redundancy? If so:

  • Will this invitation be limited to certain categories or departments of staff?

  • What is the deadline for voluntary redundancy applications?

The At Risk of Redundancy Letter

• On which date will the Letter be sent?

• Will the Letter be printed on headed paper?

At Risk of Redundancy Letters communicate information about a redundancy process to an employee who is at risk of redundancy. To do this, this At Risk of Redundancy Letter template includes the following terms and sections:

The parties and addresses 

The Letter has a traditional letter structure, addressed from the employer to an employee. It starts by setting out the names and addresses of both and the date of the Letter.

Re: Possible redundancies at… 

The body of the Letter starts by identifying the subject of the Letter as the potential redundancies to be made in the business (ie the employer).

Following today’s meeting…

The Letter progresses by setting out the reason why redundancies are being considered. It references a meeting, in recognition that a meeting should generally be held to collectively inform staff about the possibility of redundancy before formal communications (ie letters) are sent.

As a result, I am sorry to tell you…

This section of the Letter identifies how the redundancy situation relates to the employee’s distinct role. For example, their role may cease to exist or fewer people may be required to perform it in future.

We will need to select between…

If a selection process will be involved in the redundancies (this is usually required unless, for example, only one individual is at risk), details about it will be set out here. These details include: 

• which roles make up the selection pool

• the selection criteria to be used

• whether a group meeting will be held to discuss the situation and, if so, when

At this stage, in order to try to avoid or reduce the need for mandatory redundancies…

If the employer is inviting employees to apply for voluntary redundancy, this invitation will be set out here. The invitation notes that the employer’s decision will still be final and that anybody selected for voluntary redundancy will receive an enhanced redundancy payment.

I should stress that this is only a proposal…

This section emphasises that, at this stage of the redundancy process, decisions have not been made and the employee’s input during the redundancy process can be important. It’s also highlighted that the employer will continue seeking alternatives to redundancy throughout the process.

We treat personal data collected…      

This final section highlights the employer’s commitment to complying with data protection law when handling employees’ personal data, in general and throughout the redundancy process. The employee is signposted to relevant policies and similar, for example, the Employee privacy notice.

Yours sincerely… 

The Letter ends with spaces for the employer to sign and date. 

If you want your At Risk of Redundancy Letter to include further or more detailed provisions, you can edit your document. However, if you do this, you may want a lawyer to review the document for you (or to make the changes for you) to make sure that your modified At Risk of Redundancy Letter complies with all relevant laws. Use Rocket Lawyer’s Ask a lawyer service for assistance.  

Always follow a fair redundancy procedure

Redundancy law is complicated and can be tricky to comply with. It can be particularly difficult to determine exactly what constitutes a fair redundancy procedure for a particular situation (eg it may differ based on how many people are being made redundant and why). It’s vital to always follow a fair procedure, else an employer risks their redundancies constituting unfair dismissal, for which employees may make legal claims against them. 

For more information on fair procedure, read Redundancy, Redundancy pooling and selection, and How to make someone redundant in a small business. You can use our Redundancy advice service if you need help working out what constitutes fair procedure for your situation.  

Follow the statutory consultation obligations if necessary

Employers are legally required to follow a more defined procedure when making redundancies in certain circumstances, primarily by carrying out a ‘collective redundancy consultation’. This is necessary when an employer intends to make 20 or more employees redundant within any 90-day period. It may also be required as part of a fair procedure if a collective agreement with a recognised trade union or a works council agreement is in place. The statutory consultation obligations include requirements that, in addition to upholding regular redundancy rights, employers: 

• consult with appropriate representatives (eg trade union representatives) 

• provide certain information to appropriate representatives, and 

• notify the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) of the redundancies

For more information, read the Government’s guidance. If you need to follow the collective consultation rules to carry out redundancies, you can use our Redundancy advice service for help.

Understand when to seek advice from a lawyer

In some circumstances, it’s good practice to Ask a lawyer for advice to ensure that you’re complying with the law and that you are well protected from risks. You should consider asking for advice if:

• an employee who is pregnant; who is on maternity leave, adoption leave, or shared parental leave; or who has recently returned from one of these types of leave is being made redundant

• you need to make redundancies following the collective consultation rules

• your employees who are at risk of redundancy are based outside of England, Wales and Scotland

You can also use our Redundancy advice service if you’d like guidance and support during the redundancy process.