DC126-Managing Redundancy and Employee Support Policy

Registration Number: {{org_field_registration_no}}

Managing Redundancy and Employee Support Policy

1. Introduction and Purpose

{{org_field_name}} is committed to providing a stable and supportive working environment for all employees. However, there may be occasions where organisational changes, restructuring, or economic factors necessitate a reduction in the workforce. This Managing Redundancy and Employee Support Policy outlines our approach to handling redundancies in a fair, transparent, and compassionate manner while ensuring continued compliance with employment law and CQC standards.

This policy also emphasises our commitment to supporting affected employees throughout the redundancy process, including access to practical assistance, emotional support, and career transition resources.

In a domiciliary care setting, any redundancy proposal will also be assessed for its potential impact on people who use the service, including continuity of care, safe staffing levels, safeguarding, medication support, call scheduling, travel time, staff competence, and the ability to meet assessed needs and preferences. {{org_field_name}} will not implement redundancy changes unless it has considered and documented how safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services will continue to be provided in accordance with CQC requirements and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

2. Scope of the Policy

This policy applies to all employees of the company, including full-time, part-time, and fixed-term contract staff. Redundancy rights, including statutory redundancy pay, apply to employees who meet the relevant statutory eligibility criteria. Workers, agency staff, casual staff, self-employed contractors and others engaged by the organisation may not have the same statutory redundancy rights, but {{org_field_name}} will review each individual’s contractual and employment status before taking action and will communicate proposed changes fairly and appropriately.

It covers all aspects of the redundancy process, including:

Identifying potential redundancies.
Consultation with affected employees.
Selection criteria and decision-making.
Notice periods and redundancy pay.
Employee support and career transition.

3. Principles of Redundancy Management

Our approach to managing redundancy is guided by the following principles:

Fairness and Transparency: Decisions are made based on objective criteria, with clear communication at each stage.
Legal Compliance: The process adheres to the Employment Rights Act 1996, the Equality Act 2010, and ACAS guidelines.
Minimising Impact: Efforts are made to explore alternatives to redundancy, such as redeployment or reduced hours.
Compassion and Support: Affected employees receive practical assistance, emotional support, and access to career transition services.
Continuity and Safety of Care: Redundancy planning will include an assessment of the impact on people who use the service, relatives, staff deployment, call continuity, safeguarding arrangements, risk management and the organisation’s ability to meet regulated activity requirements.
Equality and Non-Discrimination: Selection criteria and redundancy decisions will not directly or indirectly discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, including age, disability, sex, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, or marriage and civil partnership.
Governance and Accountability: Decisions will be documented, risk assessed, approved at the appropriate management level, and monitored to ensure compliance with employment law, CQC Regulation 17, CQC Regulation 18, contractual obligations and commissioner requirements.

4. Identifying the Need for Redundancy

Redundancy situations may arise due to:

Organisational restructuring to improve efficiency.
Financial constraints or funding reductions.
Closure of a service, branch, or specific role.
Technological changes reducing the need for certain roles.

Before proceeding with redundancies, the company explores all reasonable alternatives, including:

Reviewing non-essential spending.
Implementing a recruitment freeze.
Offering voluntary redundancy.
Considering flexible working arrangements.

Before any redundancy proposal is confirmed, the Registered Manager, senior management and HR will prepare a written redundancy business case. This will include the reason for the proposal, roles potentially affected, numbers of employees at risk, proposed timetable, alternatives considered, financial or operational evidence, equality impact assessment, service-user impact assessment, safe staffing review, continuity of care plan, and any required communication with commissioners, local authorities, integrated care partners or other relevant stakeholders.

Where the proposed redundancy arises from the loss, transfer, retendering or substantial change of a care contract, {{org_field_name}} will consider whether the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, known as TUPE, may apply before treating the matter as a redundancy situation.

4.1 Impact on People Who Use the Service

As a regulated domiciliary care provider, {{org_field_name}} will ensure that redundancy planning does not compromise the safety, dignity, wellbeing or continuity of care of people who use the service. Before consultation begins, and again before final decisions are made, the Registered Manager will complete a service impact assessment covering:

Whether there will remain enough suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to meet assessed care needs.
Whether call times, visit durations, travel time, medication support, moving and handling, safeguarding arrangements and care plan requirements can continue to be met safely.
The impact on people who require continuity of specific care workers because of communication needs, dementia, autism, learning disability, mental health needs, trauma history, complex care needs or other vulnerabilities.
The impact on staff supervision, competency checks, spot checks, training, on-call arrangements and management oversight.
Whether any people who use the service, relatives, advocates or commissioners need to be informed of operational changes that may affect care delivery.
Any risks to CQC compliance, including Regulation 9 Person-centred care, Regulation 12 Safe care and treatment, Regulation 17 Good governance and Regulation 18 Staffing.

Any identified risks must be recorded, allocated to a responsible person, given a timescale for action, and monitored until resolved. Redundancy decisions must not be implemented where doing so would create unsafe staffing levels or place people at avoidable risk of harm.

5. Consultation Process

Effective consultation is central to a fair redundancy process. Consultation will begin at a formative stage, before final decisions are made, and will be genuine, meaningful and properly documented.

{{org_field_name}} will consult with affected employees individually in all redundancy situations. Individual consultation will normally include discussion about the reason for the proposal, the employee’s role, the proposed selection pool, proposed selection criteria, alternatives to redundancy, suitable alternative employment, support available, proposed timescales and the employee’s questions, comments or counter-proposals.

Where fewer than 20 employees are proposed to be made redundant at one establishment within a 90-day period, there is no statutory collective consultation requirement, but {{org_field_name}} will still carry out fair individual consultation and may also consult collectively where appropriate.

Where 20 or more employees are proposed to be made redundant at one establishment within a 90-day period, {{org_field_name}} will comply with collective consultation duties under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. Consultation will take place with any recognised trade union representatives or, where there is no recognised trade union, with elected employee representatives or other appropriate representatives.

Collective consultation will begin in good time and, in any event, at least:

30 days before the first dismissal takes effect where 20 to 99 redundancies are proposed at one establishment within 90 days or less; or
45 days before the first dismissal takes effect where 100 or more redundancies are proposed at one establishment within 90 days or less.

Where collective consultation is required, {{org_field_name}} will provide appropriate representatives with the required written information, including the reasons for the proposals, numbers and descriptions of employees proposed to be dismissed, total numbers of employees of those descriptions employed at the establishment, proposed selection method, proposed method of carrying out dismissals, proposed timescales, proposed method of calculating redundancy payments, and information about agency workers where required.

Where required, {{org_field_name}} will submit form HR1 to the Redundancy Payments Service on behalf of the Secretary of State within the statutory timescale. No individual notice of redundancy dismissal will be issued until consultation has been completed and the required HR1 notification has been submitted, where applicable.

Consultation will include consideration of ways to avoid dismissals, reduce the number of dismissals, and mitigate the consequences of dismissals. Employee feedback and alternative proposals will be considered before final decisions are made.

6. Selection Pools and Selection Criteria

Where redundancy cannot be avoided, {{org_field_name}} will identify an appropriate selection pool before applying selection criteria. The selection pool will be based on the work affected, the roles at risk, the interchangeability of duties, contractual arrangements, service requirements and the need to maintain safe and continuous care.

Selection criteria will be objective, measurable, evidence-based and applied consistently. Criteria may include:

Relevant skills, qualifications, competence and experience required to meet the needs of people using the service.
Current role requirements, including specialist care competencies, medication competencies, moving and handling competencies, communication skills and ability to meet service-user needs.
Performance, where this is supported by reliable records and has been managed consistently.
Conduct and disciplinary record, where relevant, current and properly documented.
Attendance, only where absences are accurately recorded and adjusted to exclude disability-related absence, pregnancy-related absence, maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental, neonatal care, parental bereavement or other statutory family-related leave, authorised trade union duties, jury service, whistleblowing-related absence, or other protected absence.

Length of service will not normally be used as a primary selection criterion because it may give rise to indirect discrimination risks. It may only be used as a tie-breaker where objectively justified and after HR review.

Selection criteria must not penalise an employee for pregnancy, maternity, disability, age, race, sex, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, trade union membership or activity, whistleblowing, health and safety activity, flexible working requests, part-time status or fixed-term status.

Employees provisionally selected for redundancy will be given enough information to understand the basis of their provisional selection and will have the opportunity to comment on their scores, challenge factual inaccuracies and suggest alternatives before a final decision is made.

7. Notice Periods and Redundancy Pay

Employees selected for redundancy will receive notice in accordance with their contract of employment or the statutory minimum notice period, whichever is greater. The statutory minimum notice period is one week’s notice for each complete year of continuous employment, up to a maximum of 12 weeks.

Employees with at least two years’ continuous employment may be entitled to statutory redundancy pay. Statutory redundancy pay is calculated according to age, length of continuous service and weekly pay, subject to the statutory cap on a week’s pay and a maximum of 20 years’ service. The calculation is:

half a week’s pay for each full year of employment when the employee was under age 22;
one week’s pay for each full year of employment when the employee was aged 22 to 40; and
one and a half weeks’ pay for each full year of employment when the employee was aged 41 or over.

{{org_field_name}} will apply the statutory weekly pay cap in force at the employee’s effective date of termination, unless the employee’s contract or an approved enhanced redundancy scheme provides a more generous entitlement. Employees will receive a written statement showing how their redundancy payment has been calculated.

Where the contract allows, {{org_field_name}} may make a payment in lieu of notice. Any outstanding holiday pay and other contractual payments due will be paid in accordance with the employee’s contract and applicable law.

8. Redeployment and Alternative Employment

{{org_field_name}} will actively seek ways to avoid compulsory redundancy, including suitable alternative employment, redeployment, retraining, reduced hours by agreement, changes to working patterns by agreement, natural turnover, recruitment controls and voluntary redundancy where appropriate.

Employees at risk of redundancy will be informed of suitable vacancies and will be given reasonable opportunity to apply or be considered before external recruitment takes place. Where redeployment is successful, a statutory four-week trial period will normally apply. This trial period may be extended by written agreement where retraining is required.

Employees who are pregnant, on maternity leave, adoption leave, Shared Parental Leave, Neonatal Care Leave or Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave, or who are within an applicable protected period after such leave, will be given priority for any suitable alternative vacancy where one exists. This means they must be offered the suitable alternative role before other employees who are also at risk of redundancy, even if another employee may otherwise appear more suitable.

A refusal of suitable alternative employment may affect entitlement to statutory redundancy pay where the refusal is unreasonable. Each case will be assessed individually, taking into account the employee’s personal circumstances, location, hours, pay, duties, status, skills, health, caring responsibilities and the impact on continuity of care.

8.1 Pregnancy and Family Leave Redundancy Protection

{{org_field_name}} will take particular care where a redundancy situation affects an employee who is pregnant, on maternity leave, adoption leave, Shared Parental Leave, Neonatal Care Leave, Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave, parental leave, paternity leave or other statutory family-related leave.

Employees must not be selected for redundancy because of pregnancy, maternity, family leave, requesting family leave, taking family leave, pregnancy-related sickness, breastfeeding, caring responsibilities, or any related protected characteristic.

Where a suitable alternative vacancy exists for an employee who has enhanced redundancy protection because of pregnancy or relevant family leave, {{org_field_name}} will offer that vacancy to the protected employee before offering it to other at-risk employees. HR must review and approve any proposed redundancy dismissal involving an employee who is pregnant, on family-related leave, or recently returned from such leave before notice is issued.

8.2 TUPE, Contract Loss and Service Transfer

In domiciliary care, redundancy risks may arise because of contract loss, retendering, commissioner-led service changes, transfer of care packages, closure of a branch, or a change in service provider. Before commencing a redundancy process in these circumstances, {{org_field_name}} will assess whether TUPE applies.

Where TUPE may apply, {{org_field_name}} will seek appropriate HR or legal advice and will comply with its obligations to inform and, where required, consult affected employees or their representatives. Employees must not be dismissed because of a TUPE transfer unless there is a lawful reason and a fair process has been followed.

Where a redundancy situation arises before, during or after a TUPE transfer, {{org_field_name}} will ensure that affected employees are treated fairly, that transferred employees are not disadvantaged because they transferred, and that continuity of employment is correctly recognised for redundancy pay and other statutory or contractual rights.

9. Employee Support During Redundancy

{{org_field_name}} recognises that redundancy can have significant emotional, financial and practical consequences. Employees affected by redundancy will be treated with dignity, respect and compassion.

Support may include:

access to confidential wellbeing or counselling support, where available;
signposting to mental health support, financial guidance, benefits guidance and employment support services;
reasonable paid time off to look for work or arrange training, where the employee is legally entitled to this;
CV preparation, interview support and job search assistance;
consideration of reasonable adjustments for disabled employees during consultation, redeployment and appeal meetings;
occupational health input where appropriate; and
regular communication with managers or HR.

Managers will also monitor the impact of redundancy proposals on remaining staff, including workload, morale, stress, supervision needs and the ability to continue delivering safe and person-centred care. Any risks to staff wellbeing or service delivery will be escalated to the Registered Manager and senior management.

10. Appeals Process

Employees have the right to appeal a redundancy decision where they believe the decision is unfair, discriminatory, procedurally flawed, based on incorrect information, or where suitable alternatives were not properly considered.

Appeals should be submitted in writing within five working days of the redundancy notice, setting out the grounds of appeal. {{org_field_name}} may accept a late appeal where there is a reasonable explanation for the delay.

An appeal will be heard by a senior manager who was not involved in the original decision, wherever reasonably practicable. The employee will be invited to an appeal meeting and may be accompanied by a trade union representative or workplace colleague.

The appeal manager will consider the employee’s grounds of appeal, relevant documents, consultation records, selection scores, redeployment evidence and any new information. The employee will receive the appeal outcome in writing, normally within 10 working days of the appeal meeting. Where this timescale cannot be met, the employee will be informed of the reason for the delay and the revised timescale.

The appeal outcome will be final within {{org_field_name}}’s internal procedure.

11. Post-Redundancy Follow-Up

The company remains committed to supporting former employees after redundancy. This includes:

Providing employment references.
Offering continued access to career support for up to three months.
Monitoring workforce morale and addressing concerns among remaining staff.

Following any redundancy process, the Registered Manager will review the impact on service delivery, staff deployment, rota stability, missed or late calls, complaints, safeguarding concerns, incidents, medication errors, staff turnover, sickness absence, supervision compliance and feedback from people who use the service. Any negative trends will be escalated through the governance process and addressed promptly.

12. Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

{{org_field_name}} will monitor redundancy processes to ensure they are fair, lawful, non-discriminatory and consistent with safe service delivery. Monitoring will include:

auditing redundancy decisions, selection pools, selection criteria, scoring and outcomes;
reviewing equality impact and whether any protected groups were disproportionately affected;
reviewing consultation records and whether alternatives were properly considered;
checking that HR1 and collective consultation requirements were met where applicable;
reviewing redeployment activity and suitable alternative employment decisions;
reviewing the impact on people who use the service, staff morale, staffing levels and continuity of care;
identifying lessons learned and updating this policy where required.

Records of redundancy decisions, risk assessments, consultation, equality analysis, service impact assessments and management approvals will be retained as evidence of governance and compliance with employment law and CQC Regulation 17.

13. Confidentiality, Records and Data Protection

All redundancy-related information will be handled confidentially and in accordance with the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, employment law and {{org_field_name}}’s data protection policies.

Redundancy records may include business cases, consultation notes, selection matrices, equality impact assessments, service impact assessments, redeployment records, appeal documents and correspondence. Access will be limited to those who need the information for legitimate business, legal, HR, regulatory or governance purposes.

Where information is shared with employee representatives, trade unions, commissioners, legal advisers or regulators, {{org_field_name}} will ensure that sharing is lawful, proportionate and limited to what is necessary. Special category data, including health, disability, pregnancy or absence information, will be handled with additional safeguards.

Redundancy records will be retained only for as long as necessary in line with the organisation’s retention schedule and legal obligations. Where possible, management reports will use anonymised or aggregated information.

13.1 CQC, Commissioner and Stakeholder Communication

Redundancy itself is not automatically a CQC-notifiable event. However, where redundancy proposals or outcomes may affect the provider’s ability to carry on regulated activities safely, meet registration conditions, maintain safe staffing, deliver commissioned care packages, or comply with the statement of purpose, the Registered Manager and Nominated Individual will consider whether CQC, commissioners, local authorities or other relevant bodies need to be informed.

{{org_field_name}} will notify CQC of any notifiable event or relevant change where required under the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 or other applicable requirements. Any communication with people who use the service, relatives, advocates or commissioners will be planned carefully, recorded and delivered in a way that maintains confidentiality, reassurance and continuity of care.

13.2 Governance Approval Before Implementation

No redundancy proposal affecting care delivery, care coordination, rostering, supervision, management capacity or regulated activity will be implemented until the Registered Manager and senior management have reviewed and approved:

the redundancy business case;
the consultation plan;
the equality impact assessment;
the service-user impact assessment;
the safe staffing and rota impact assessment;
the continuity of care plan;
the communication plan; and
evidence that legal consultation and notification requirements have been met.

Approval must be documented and retained. Where risks to people who use the service cannot be adequately controlled, implementation must be paused until safe arrangements are in place.

14. Conclusion

Redundancy will always be treated as a last resort. {{org_field_name}} is committed to managing redundancy in a way that is fair, transparent, compassionate, legally compliant and consistent with the safe delivery of regulated domiciliary care.

The organisation will consult meaningfully, consider alternatives, apply objective and non-discriminatory selection criteria, support affected employees, protect people who use the service from avoidable harm, and maintain effective governance throughout the process.

Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}
Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}
Next Review Date: {{next_review_date}}
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