Making a Role Redundant: What Small Sheffield Employers Need to Get Right

Redundancy is one of the areas where small employers most commonly get caught out — not usually because the business reason is wrong, but because the process used to get there wasn't fair or genuine. Here's what actually matters.

Redundancy is about the role, not the person

The legal test for redundancy is about a reduced need for work of a particular kind — not about performance, not about who you'd rather keep. If you find yourself thinking "we need to lose someone, and it should be [name]" before you've properly considered the role and selection criteria, that's a warning sign the process may not hold up if challenged. Get the reasoning the wrong way round and you're at real risk of an unfair dismissal or discrimination claim, even where cutting costs was a completely legitimate business need.

Establish the genuine business reason first

Before anything else, be clear — and able to evidence — why the redundancy situation exists: reduced demand, restructuring, a site closure, automation of a task, financial pressure. This needs to be a real, evidenced business reason, not a convenient label applied to what's actually a performance-based decision.

Consult properly — this isn't optional, even for one role

A genuine consultation process is a legal requirement, not a courtesy, even when only one role is affected. That means:

• Telling the affected employee(s) about the proposed redundancy situation before any final decision is made

• Explaining the business reasons clearly

• Giving them a genuine opportunity to respond, ask questions, and suggest alternatives

• Actually considering what they say before reaching a final decision — consultation that's just a formality before a decision already made is a common and costly mistake

For larger-scale redundancies (20 or more roles at one establishment within 90 days), formal collective consultation rules and minimum timescales apply — this is a different, more complex process and needs specific advice.

Selection criteria need to be fair and applied consistently

Where more than one employee could potentially fill a smaller number of remaining roles, you need clear, objective, non-discriminatory selection criteria — things like skills, experience, performance records (based on documented evidence, not recent impression), and attendance (excluding disability-related or maternity-related absence, which cannot lawfully be used). Apply the criteria consistently and be able to show your working.

Consider alternatives before dismissal

A fair redundancy process includes genuinely considering alternatives to dismissal — redeployment into another suitable role, reduced hours, a pay freeze instead of job losses, voluntary redundancy. You don't have to create a role that doesn't exist, but you do need to have properly looked at what is available, including at any other sites if you have them.

Get the numbers and paperwork right

Statutory redundancy pay, notice periods, and any enhanced contractual redundancy terms all need calculating correctly, and the final documentation needs to set out the process followed, the reason, and the calculations clearly. Getting this wrong — even where the redundancy itself was handled fairly — creates unnecessary disputes.

Why small employers in South Yorkshire find this particularly hard

In a small business, redundancy often means saying goodbye to someone you know well, sometimes someone who was an early hire or a personal friend. That emotional weight makes it tempting to rush the process to get the discomfort over with, or to skip consultation because "we both know how this ends." Both instincts increase legal risk significantly, however understandable they are.

Getting it right the first time

Redundancy is one of the situations where getting independent, experienced input before you announce anything makes the biggest difference — to get the business case, the selection criteria, the consultation process and the paperwork right from the outset, rather than trying to fix gaps after an employee has already raised a grievance or tribunal claim.