Redundancy Consultation Start Date

[TheOnlyMrsW]

Appealing to the lovely MN community and hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will be able to help.

DH's company are making redundancies, he was emailed a letter on Friday saying that his role is one of the ones at risk and there would be a 45-day consultation period. We are assuming that the start date of the consultation is the date of the letter (Friday 6th Feb) and we know that legally he is entitled to paid time off for interviews BUT his manager are saying that the consultation hasn't started yet as he hasn't had an individual conversation so interview time is either unpaid or out of holiday allowance.

DH is part of a union but they take 48 hours to respond and ACAS's helpline is rammed, local HR haven't been involved in the process at all and central HR has a 48 hour response too.

Does anyone know if the consultation date starts when he has an individual discussion or if it's the date that the notification is issued?

Thanks in advance!

You need to ask the employer.

Thank you, he is asking but won't get an answer for 48 hours and is being asked about interviews now hence wondering if anyone would know the legal standpoint.

The consultation period starts when the “at risk” notification is issued.

However, the legal right to paid time off for interviews only applies once formal notice of redundancy is given, not during consultation (unless company policy says otherwise).