Possible redundancy letter

mattw12345

mattw12345

mattw12345

Associate
Joined
25 Aug 2024
Posts
16
Location
UK
Hello all,
I sadly received an email on 1630 from my company telling me my job was at threat and that I had a meeting to discuss on Tuesday at 10am. Which literally leaves me no time to prepare or seek professional advice. Is this common to receive such short notice? I've attached the email below. I find it pretty distressing to read as I've been at the company two years and have contributed hugely to creating new applications for the business. It's so cold, there's no acknowledgement of my contributions, no sense of empathy as to how this might be making me feel and nothing about the kind of support they would offer. Is it reasonable to bring this up in the meeting and ask questions, such as, was the letter signed off by the company, or was it direct from my boss? It is out of odds with the company ethos for sure. And also asking the reasons why I have been given so little notice. The email says I can bring professional support, but there is literally no way I could get this given I got it last thing on Friday and it's a bank holiday weekend.
Any thoughts appreciated.

I am writing to advise you that you are required to attend a meeting on [date and time]. This meeting will be held virtually. You will receive a separate email with details of how to join the meeting. The meeting will be chaired by [a manager]. Another member of staff will also be present as a note-taker.

At the meeting, we will discuss upcoming changes at the company. You should be aware that the outcome of the meeting could be up to and including the termination of your employment.

You have the statutory right to be accompanied at the meeting by either a work colleague or a trade union official of your choice. Your companion will be permitted to address the meeting and confer with you during the meeting. Please let me know if you are going to be accompanied and the name of the person by [a reasonable time before the meeting].

Please confirm that you are able to attend by [confirmation deadline]. You should take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting. Failure to attend without good reason could result in the meeting being held, and a decision being taken on your ongoing employment, in your absence.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries about the contents of this letter.
 
kindai said:
That sounds more like a potential disciplinary/complaint/performance meeting rather than a redundancy one...
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I messaged the manager who will be taking the meeting. I said:
I would like to know if this due to an allegation of breach of contract and if so what that is so that I have a chance to prepare for this if that is the case.
The reply was:
It is not due to a breach of contract Matt. I will talk you through in the meeting.
 
Literally a few weeks under 2 years. Which I wonder whether they're trying to rush it through potentially. If it was 2 years I know I would be able to get 1 weeks redundancy pay. I don't know if there are other things I would also benefit from.
 
throwaway4372 said:
I've had redundancy like this before. They plan it so you have no opportunity to talk to your colleagues, wouldn't be surprised if you get canned in the meeting and have your access immediately removed. Companies jerk you around right before the 2 years period because that's the threshold for having the right of legal recourse if they're unfair about it. Doesn't hurt to take a union rep along if you have one, might help you in some way. But basically it's new job time.
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Yeah. I'm trying not to take it personally as I'm a software engineer. They probably think the job is pretty much done (which it isn't) and now they massively downsize the team.
 
Can they literally dismiss me there and then and that's it I have no job from Tuesday?
The language sounds like it could be a restructuring, but it is very vague:

At the meeting, we will discuss upcoming changes at the company. You should be aware that the outcome of the meeting could be up to and including the termination of your employment.
 
Tetras said:
There's no harm in asking, especially if this is a redundancy.

I'd recommend that you write down all of your thoughts way before the meeting and make them quickly accessible to you, but keep in mind that you may have limited time in the meeting, so prioritise how you use it (e.g. if you're being made redundant, there's unlikely to be anything to be gained by arguing the point, because the decision will have already been made).
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So equally no point investing too much emotional energy in it given it could already be a forgone conclusion.
 
Mr Badger said:
Does your employer have a track record of getting rid of people before they have been there for 2 years?

As others have pointed out, you have little legal recourse against dismissal until you achieve 2 years of service. The exception to this is if it involves discrimination. I believe the Equality Act 2010 is the relevant piece of legislation. There is no length of service requirement to take your employer to an Employment Tribunal if they are stupid enough to sack you for something that would count as being discrimination against a protected characteristic.

Best case would seem to be that it is indeed a redundancy situation. If so, the most obvious thing to check is that they are actually getting rid of the role and not just sacking a person to replace them with someone cheaper or who has less rights.
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Would I have some level of protection if they are just trying to replace me for someone cheaper? Our tech lead told me that they were looking to get an agency in to help support with the work. We clearly have a huge amount that needs doing, even at a support level. I do know the devs do get paid more than a lot of the company, but still way under contractors or agencies would be paying devs. Either way though, it probably looks like an unjustifiably high amount compared to other salaries.
I've thought about whether I could offer to work at a reduced rate for a fixed period to give me time to find another role. Clearly not ideal, but at least if I could negotiate this then I'd have some salary.
 
Quartz said:
Sorry to hear you’re going through this but I suggest you speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau and possibly ACAS to get their advice. If nothing else, having someone from an official body there will ensure they do things properly.
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I've literally been given no time to seek this. Surely that isn't fair. I was told 1630 on Friday with a meeting booked for 10am on Tuesday.
It must be reasonable to ask for this to be postponed to give me a realistic time frame to get an official body there?
 
Do they legally have to have this consultation meeting before making me redundant? Is it reasonable to attend th meeting go see what they are actually going to say/propose and then continue to get legal advice after? Or can they then officially make me redundant?
Does this seem like a bit of a dirty trick to give me no time at all to seek legal help or advice?
 
Gray2233 said:
I was about to say something similar, if you're only a few weeks out go on the sick.

"Mental health issues"

Jack **** they can do about it and it's a scummy damned practice on their end, they might still try to get you out of the door but you'll walk with a lot more recompense from the redundancy. You can spend your "sick" period looking for other jobs to boot, just don't say a damn word about that to your employer.

Request the sick note for whatever the period is to take you over the two year mark, it's largely automated now and can be done online.

Hell, even if you're not overly close I'd still be tempted to take a couple of weeks out of spite, and then use that to look for work/legal advice.
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It is speculation as to what they will say, though I think the sense here is that the writing is on the wall. I'm definitely thinking at a minimum that I take some sick leave to actually see if I can get some legal representation at the meeting. But if this could actually work as an option then it may he worth considering.
 
Rroff said:
The 2 year deadline adds an ominous note to it, but unless a template message a bit odd to talk about representation if it is a simple get rid of you before you gain full rights to a redundancy process and then the claims it isn't a disciplinary process but talks about representation, also kind of odd to hold a disciplinary process virtually unless that is how the business mostly operates.

Though termination is probably a high chance sounds more to me like they are either planning on making unpopular changes to the terms of the contract using the threat of termination, real or bluff, to try and make you accept them, or planning on making the role "redundant" so as to fill another gap in the company - probably an unpopular position no one wants.
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It seems improbable that they can make the role 'redundant' because our senior frontend developer leaves at the end of the week which places an increased strain and remand on the development team, besides me there are 2 backend developers who have their plates full with current demand, bugs etc...
I know this to be the case rationally, but can they still find ways around technically making the role 'redundant' and then still outsourcing the work to an agency?
 
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