Redundancy can be a stressful experience at the best of times, but it becomes far more difficult when you suspect the process has not been handled fairly. Disputes between employers and departing staff are common, and one of the main areas of disagreement is whether the dismissal itself was lawful. This article explains what unfair redundancy looks like in 2026, how to spot it, and what steps you may want to take.
If you are worried that your employer has not followed the correct process, you can check the position using our free Redundancy Rights Checker.
When a Redundancy May Be Unfair
A redundancy is generally considered unfair in two broad situations. The first is where the employer has failed to follow the proper procedure. The second is where redundancy is being used as a cover for some other reason for getting rid of you.
Both can give grounds for a claim, but they tend to be argued in different ways at an employment tribunal. Knowing which category your situation falls into can help you decide how to respond.
Failure to Follow Proper Redundancy Procedure
UK employment law sets out a fairly clear framework for how redundancies should be carried out. If an employer ignores those rules, the dismissal may be found unfair on procedural grounds alone, regardless of whether the redundancy itself was genuine.
Some of the steps an employer is expected to take include:
- Warning affected staff that redundancies are being considered.
- Consulting individually with each employee at risk.
- Using fair and objective selection criteria, such as skills, experience, attendance and disciplinary record.
- Considering suitable alternative employment within the business where possible.
- Allowing employees to be accompanied at meetings where appropriate.
Where 20 or more redundancies are proposed at one establishment within a 90 day period, collective consultation rules apply. In most cases this means consulting with recognised trade unions or elected employee representatives, and notifying the Secretary of State. Failure to do this can make the dismissals automatically unfair, and may also lead to a protective award being made by a tribunal.
Smaller scale redundancies still require a fair individual process. Skipping consultation, applying vague or biased selection criteria, or simply announcing dismissals without warning would all raise serious concerns.
Describe what happened and find out whether you might have a case for unfair dismissal. Get clear guidance on your options and time limits.
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The other type of unfair dismissal arises when redundancy is not the real reason for letting someone go. On paper the employer claims the role is no longer needed, but the actual motive lies elsewhere. Common hidden reasons include:
- Discrimination based on age, sex, race, religion or belief, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, or marital status.
- Personal dislike or a breakdown in working relationships.
- Dissatisfaction with performance or conduct, where the employer has not followed a proper capability or disciplinary procedure.
- Retaliation for raising a grievance, blowing the whistle, or asserting a statutory right such as requesting flexible working.
- Trade union membership or activities.
Performance and conduct can be valid reasons for dismissal, but they have their own procedures, including warnings and an opportunity to improve. An employer who tries to bypass that by labelling the dismissal as redundancy may well be acting unlawfully.
Signs the Redundancy May Not Be Genuine
It is worth taking a step back and looking at the wider picture. A redundancy is generally considered genuine where the work itself, or the need for someone to do it, has reduced or disappeared. Take the example of someone who raises a grievance about their manager, and finds two months later that their role alone has been selected for redundancy while colleagues doing similar work continue as before. That kind of timing tends to invite questions.
You may have grounds for concern if:
- Your role is advertised again shortly after you leave, often with a slightly different title.
- A new starter takes on most of your duties.
- You were the only person considered, despite others doing similar work.
- The selection criteria seem designed to single you out.
- You raised a concern, complaint or protected disclosure not long before the announcement.
None of these on their own prove unfairness, but together they may suggest that redundancy was not the true reason.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
Who Can Bring an Unfair Dismissal Claim
The rules on qualifying service may be changing. The Government has proposed, through the Employment Rights Bill, to remove the two year qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal and replace it with day one rights subject to a statutory probation period. This is not yet settled law, and the detail will depend on regulations made under the Bill once it is enacted. Check the latest position on GOV.UK or with ACAS before relying on a particular timeframe.
For automatically unfair reasons, such as discrimination, whistleblowing or asserting a statutory right, there is no minimum length of service. You may bring a claim from the first day of employment.
What You Can Do
If you believe your redundancy was unfair, there are several practical steps you may want to consider:
- Ask the employer, in writing, for a clear explanation of the reason for dismissal and the selection process used.
- Raise the matter through the company's grievance or appeal procedure. Most redundancy processes include a right of appeal.
- Keep copies of relevant documents, including your contract, consultation letters, scoring sheets and emails.
- Contact ACAS to start early conciliation. This is normally a required step before bringing a tribunal claim, and it can sometimes resolve matters without going further.
- Get advice from a solicitor, your trade union, Citizens Advice or a law centre, especially if the issues are complex or involve discrimination.
Time limits are tight. In most cases you have three months less one day from the date of dismissal to begin early conciliation, so it pays to act quickly even if you are still weighing up your options.
If a tribunal finds that you were unfairly dismissed, it can order reinstatement, re-engagement or compensation. Compensation usually has two parts: a basic award, calculated in a similar way to statutory redundancy pay, and a compensatory award reflecting your financial loss. Current limits on awards are reviewed each April and are published on GOV.UK.
An unfair redundancy is upsetting, but the law provides a clear route to challenge it. Gather your paperwork, make a timeline of what happened, and get advice early. Doing those three things gives you the best chance of putting matters right.
Then with a formal grievance. Because of the grievance I was victimised at the point that one year later they carried out a consultation process -a restructure that only affected me. As this was proved to be wrong, they had to give me back my job as it was. All of this triggered my mental health. Then they did not allow me to attend the mental health treatment. They ignored medical letters about it. Just now I am off sick because I had an accident an broke a bone right arm. A week after the accident I was shocked by a surprised phone call from my employer telling me that a Restructure -Consultation process was on the way and that my post is going to be affected. They deleted my post and created another post to cover mine completely and drastically diminishing my post in all aspects such as salary, hrs of work, only 39 weeks per year instead of 52 weeks. etc. As detrimental that it is clear that they are looking for my way out. Just covering an unfair dismissal through restructure process.
My health it's been very deteriorated because of the treatment so I feel in a big disadvantage to gain another job with all the health issues. For a long time I just put my head down and tolerated all the bully etc. trying to keep my job and now this. I do not know what to do. where to go for help and advise etc.
This seems very unfair to me and I am now wondering what my next steps should be.
I would be grateful for any advice that you can give me
Firstly there are 10 people at our site but significantly more at other sites across the company all going through the same thing at the same time. I asked about the 30 day consultation period as there is more than 20 employees collectively that are being made redundant. They said it wasn’t required as it’s only 10 at our site. Is this correct?
Also I hold 2 jobs for my employer, a 32 hour a week role (held for 23 years) and a 2.5 hour a week role (held for 14 years) - both at different rates of pay and working in different departments with different line managers.
My 32 hour a week job is being made redundant. Can I take a paid redundancy package on my 32 hour role and keep working my 2.5 hour role or do I have to leave the company completely and be made redundant on both roles?
He basically told me that I will not be put in a pool for redundancy and I will be made redundant when I tupe over... the reason for not putting me in a pool is he said that there are no other managers in my area / postcode . I asked him for details of other managers not specific addresses but areas where they live and he said he could not give me them due to data protection.. i am a field manager so travelling g has never been an issue for me and I have managed a team of meter readers across Bradford Halifax Huddersfield all South Yorkshire and East Yorkshire totally around half a million miles square... he knows this and still says that there isn’t a manager in my area..
I have been offered an enhanced package of 2.5 weeks per year in my old company and I have until the 22/102020 to take this or it will be taken off the table and the other company says if I do t take it then they will
Make me redundant and I will lose around £10,000 ....
What are your thoughts ?
After the initial group chat with the gm and hr when my specific role was mentioned I got told no other jobs are available anywhere for me and when I saw the gm minutes after the call he admitted I was going and apologised to me.
Is this unfair dismissal as happened before my individual meeting happened so not following correct process?
We have talked to citizens advice they mentioned things such as type. And say I should have received redundancy either at the time of new owners taking over/ or at the time they wished to terminate my employment.
So I'm wondering what the next step is.
Really appreciate any help givien.
Kind Regards
George
After 4 years of employment.
No meeting or explaination
During the week someone else has been employed in my role and the claim is I don’t have skills or attitude to carry out the role anymore, no we have less customers.
I am a barman.
Can anyone advise what to do.
Also they employed someone new while I as still on furlough
Is there a clock ticking that the employer must initate or complete procedures by?
I've read that consultations themselves should take 30-45 days, but that the HR1 notice expires after 90 days... so if a company, for whatever reason, fails to even start, never mind, finish a redundancy consultation, after a certain period, does the whole process simply time out? Surely, you can't be at perpetual risk of redundancy?
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