HR Redundancy Advice please

[SingleMum01]

Our organisation is in the throes of a takeover. Been told today our jobs will be looked at in Sept to see if they are required. First option will be offered redeployment, however, this could be some considerable mileage away. How would I stand in this, ie, is there a limit in how far away the job could be from where I am at the moment, say an hours travelling? I don't expect home circumstances of being a sole parent/bread winner have any bearing on redeployment considerations? Any advice would be great. Thanks.

Do you have any mobility clause in your contract?

If you don't have a mobility clause in your contract, and the relocation is more than a short distance, you can decide not to move. In this case, your employer may make you redundant.

I don't have any mobility clause in my contract. I'm under the impression they can offer us 2 alternate jobs and if we don't take them, they don't have to pay us redundancy. What is a reasonable short distance would you say?

You can refuse an alternative offer if it is not suitable for you and in that situation you become redundant and you would be entitled to the same redundancy package as you would had been had they not offered you any alternative job. However, they may argue that they job they have offered is suitable and that you are in effect resigning and wouldn't get redundancy pay. The question is whether you've unreasonably refused an alternative role. And this is where it gets complicated...

This is a direct quote from the direct.gov site re redundancy:

"There is no fixed distance which is 'reasonable'- it depends on your particular circumstances. If the new location is just a few miles away and you can drive or easily take public transport, it will probably be unreasonable to turn down the offer. If, however, it involves a difficult journey, even if it's only a few miles away, or affects personal matters like your family situation or children's education, it may be reasonable to say no."

You have a right to request a trial period of 4 weeks for the role, after which if it does not suit you or your employer decides it doesn't suit, you can take redundancy.

If personal circumstances would make a role unsuitable for you, although it might be suitable for someone young free and single, it's perfectly fine to expect your employer to take that into account.

Do you know how far away the job in question is, and how long it would take you to get there? How different is it to your current journey?

'young, free and single' was a bad choice of phrase, as you may indeed be both young and single! You know what I mean though...

No problem flowerybeanbag!

I currently work in the same town as I live - takes about 15 mins on a good day/30 mins on a bad day.

The new journey could be via train (so got to get to local train station first) then 30 min train journey - or could drive, could take 60 mins on a good day (on M6). My problem is childcare as I have a young son who currently goes to afterschool which closes at 5.30pm. Doesn't do breakfast club at the moment but there is one which starts at 8am. Realistically I reckon if I dropped him off at 8, I could maybe get to work for 9 on a good day. Would have to work till 5 to get hours in, therefore wouldn't be able to get back in time to pick him up (and thats all traffic permitting)