Being asked to cut work days - is this redundancy?

[2019change]

Are there any employment lawyers/HR people on here? I have a friend who currently works 5 days a week for an employer she has worked for for nearly 10 years. It is a very small company where everyone has distinct roles - she is a skilled craftsperson. Her employer is going through hard times and asking staff to go part time, she is being asked to go from 5 days a week to 2 days a week as there has been much less call for what she does.

Is this redundancy? Can you be made "partly redundant" (ie the 3 days she is now being told she does not work)? What are her rights? It is not a case that someone else will do her job in the 3 days she is not employed it is just that there is not enough work for her to employed full time. There is no chance of her being offered a different job for these 3 days as (1) she only wants to do her skilled craftsperson role and (2) all other roles are already filled.

I should add that the employer is tryng to help her find additional similar employment with other unrelated companies that he knows in their business world that might need her skills so he is not being unhelpful I just wanted to know what rights she has. Thank you.

They can’t forcibly make you work less hours neither can they give you a pay cut.

This is actually a way for employers to keep people employed when there is a downturn. ACAS suggest a reduction in hours could be better than redundancies. Do have a look at their guidance on redundancies. Being offered part time work is to avoid redundancy. The firm wishes to retain her skills but doesn’t have enough work for full time. Therefore the job is not redundant if it’s still needed. Can anyone else do it? It suggests maybe not as they are not making her redundant.

Therefore it’s often best to accept part time rather than no job at all. Obviously the employer can ask and the employee doesn’t have to accept.

However she might need to consider what the alternatives are. One alternative is that the employer ceases trading. If they cannot reduce costs, and do not have enough work for their employees, this is the inevitable consequence. Or she could try and get another full time job. How easy will this be?

If there isn't enough work then there isn't enough work.

Employer could make her wholly redundant and re-engage her on piecework to achieve the same outcome.

But if the business is not thriving the redundancy payment could bankrupt the business. If the business closes, everyone there will be entitled to redundancy and there could be a lot of other closure costs and not enough money to pay.