DH's company put staff on 2 months notice - happening to anyone else? Advice please

[mistersmum]

I had a phone call from a distressed DH saying that staff costs have to be cut by 14% and they are all on 2 months notice, and looks like they will have to go through the whole interview process etc. I used to work in the NHS where we had very good support from our professional bodies with regard Industrial Relations issues and there were set procedures for all of this kind of thing to be followed. I am v concerned that this whole process is going to be v devisive and destructive to all concerned and am wanting to know what his legal standing is and what processes the company should be following to make sure that the whole process is fair and transparent, and not based on wwho knows who IFSWIM.
Anyone else been/ going through this? Who can I contact for advice in terms of the process they should be following? What are their rights in this kind of situation? ANY ADVICE PLEASE Thank you

Your DH can seek advice from a union if he is in one, or ACAS. There is plenty of information available on the net regarding redundancy processes and the relevant legislation.

Where I work we have an agreed process with the unions and selection criteria is constructed around skills and knowledge.

What information has your DH had?

They all got a three page letter, and I haven't had chance to read it yet because he is out tonight entertaining clients - or what I call unpaid overtime!! And he siad the rumours have started already. I'll have a look on the internet tonight and post more tomorrow when I know a bit more> He isn't a member of a union, and I also thought he needs to contact his professional body who are bound to have an IR dept.

Quick summary: if more than 20 people expected to be made redundant then company needs to consult with staff directly (or via elected representatives) to see if they can negotiate fewer redudancies, favourable terms etc. At end of 90 day period then company can issue redundancy notices (they don't have to agree to anything that is demanded of them in the redundancy process). If they fail to consult or give notice before the end of 90 days (if more than 20 staff) then they are not following procedure. What happens then is usually that the company makes up the 'balance' of the 90 days by adding it on as an extra notice period - eg if your DH has 4 week notice period and consultation doesn't happen and he is made redundant after 55 days then he will be entitled to his statutory redundancy pay plus 4 weeks notice plus 35 days (90-55). companies might try to avoid this. but it would be a very black and white case if a claim were to be made against them so your DH can pressurise them here if that happens.

The other things they have to do is to select a pool of potential victims (what other word??) fairly, and then select that actual people from that pool fairly and they are open to claims against them if they don't. However the scope for selecting pools is quite wide in UK law. Unfair selection would happen if they selected on the grounds of age for example, but not if they were selected on the grounds of previous performance appraisals.

If you have specific stuff then ask away.

Thankyou Squiffy. I had a good read on the ACAS and BERRA? websites last night. I used to be our staff rep when I was working but didn't have to deal with redundancies- but it helps being familiar with the jargon! I still haven't seen the letter but it sounds from what he said this am that they are going to select pools of staff like you said.
My main question at this point is about the staff reps. They have been told that they have until friday to select their staff representatives whihc sounds v unrealistic! I couldn't find much about this on my reading. How many are they allowed? Is it proportional to staff numbers? The potential redundancies go across all levels of staff across all of the people who work within the company - ie post room to partners - are they all entiltled to representation? Some may well be members of unions too.
If the majority of staff are not in a union and so are not used to dealing with this situation, are they at a disadvantage in the whole process. Can ACAS advise / represent them? I am also going to chase his professional body to see if they have an industrial relations dept who could advise.
I think that is all for now until I have more to go on. Thanks