Government must proceed with redundancy reform

Commenting on the government’s call for evidence on collective redundancy, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), has said that the time has come for reform in this area of employment law.

He said: “The UK’s collective redundancy rules are archaic and damaging to UK firms. Businesses need confidence that when redundancies are necessary to save the business, and hundreds of other jobs, they can be conducted in a swift and fair manner, rather than stringing out the process to hit an arbitrary 90 day time period.

“A 90 day consultation period may have been necessary when correspondence was conducted via post, but modern technology has rendered such long periods obsolete. Of course firms considering large scale redundancies should consult their staff, but effective consultations can be undertaken in a much shorter time period. Any firm wishing to take longer to consult than the statutory minimum would still be free to do so, as they are now.”