Collective Redundancy

Expected 2027

Under the current law, any employer proposing 20 or more redundancies at one “establishment” within a period of 90 days must go through a process of collective redundancy consultation, which essentially means informing and consulting appropriate representatives of affected employees. A failure to comply with the collective consultation obligations can result in claims for a “protective award” for each affected employee (which can be a significant liability). Previously the maximum protective award for failure to collectively consult was 90 days, however on 6 April 2026 the maximum protective award doubled to 180 days’ pay.

The new legislation keeps the current threshold of 20 or more employees at one establishment but adds a new threshold that will apply across the whole organisation, with the  details of new threshold to be defined in regulations.

The government launched a consultation in February 2026 seeking views on the levels and methods by which the new organisation-wide threshold for triggering collective redundancy obligations might be set. Two options for the organisation-wide threshold are being considered:

• Using a single fixed number in the range of 250 to 1000.
• Tiering this new obligation based on number of employees.