7. The School will take all reasonable steps to avoid dismissal due to redundancy, which will be considered only as a last resort. Alternatives such as early retirement, part-time working, re-grading, retraining or transfer to other work in the same organisational unit will be considered first. The employment of temporary staff employed in comparable work will also be reviewed before the posts of permanent employees are considered for redundancy.

8. Where these possibilities have been exhausted, reasonable means will be used to find suitable alternative post(s) for the affected employee(s) elsewhere in the School. The Personnel Division shall approach managers who have, or expect to have, vacancies that can be matched to the skills of an employee at risk of redundancy.

9. The line manager of employee(s) affected by redundancy will keep them informed of the progress of this search, and discuss suitable vacancies with them should they occur. Recruiting Managers shall be expected to interview such employees before their post is advertised, or before external candidates are called for interview. Such interviews shall be conducted in accordance with the School's established processes for fair and objective recruitment of academic support staff (as outlined in the Recruitment Toolkit for academic support staff). Potentially redundant employees shall not be appointed automatically to vacant posts.

10. Details of members of staff at risk may also, with their prior consent, be circulated to other academic institutions and comparable employers.

Selection for redundancy

11. Because of the sporadic nature of redundancies within the School, the methods that will be used to identify staff to be dismissed cannot in all circumstances be specified fully in advance. A range of criteria will be considered. Those that will be applied in particular redundancy situations will be determined by the circumstances pertaining at that time.

12. Some of the criteria that might apply include:

experience;
job performance;
training and specialist qualifications;
transferable skills;
attendance record;
live disciplinary warnings.

It should be noted that this is not an exhaustive list of criteria.

13. Ill-considered selection of an employee for redundancy could make his or her dismissal unfair. The selection criteria to be applied must be agreed with the Personnel Division in advance of any redundancy programme. Subsequent assessment of potentially redundant employees against those criteria must be conducted in consultation with Personnel representatives. Redundancy will not be used as a substitute for the application of procedures more appropriate to the situation, such as disciplinary or incapacity procedures.

Consultation

14. The School recognises its legal obligation to consult affected employees in advance of their redundancy, and will ensure that in all circumstances the consultation process outlined in Part 2 is followed. In every case, the School will ensure that: -

it has agreed a fair method of selecting employees for redundancy;
it has sought and, wherever possible, offered alternative employment for those affected;
it has consulted affected employees on the mechanics of the redundancy process and kept them informed of relevant developments.

15. Although the school has no legal obligation to consult recognised trade unions where fewer than 20 staff are being made redundant over 90 days, the School accepts that it is good practice to do so, particularly when those affected are trade union members. Trade unions will normally be consulted on the selection criteria for redundancies; they will also normally be advised if non-union members are to be made redundant.

16. Whilst individual employees will react differently to notification of possible redundancy, the news in many cases will come as a surprise or disappointment. The School will therefore ensure that affected staff are treated with sensitivity.

17. Formal meetings held in connection with redundancy will be handled with care. To minimise the concern that individuals may feel, employees will not be asked to attend meetings without prior notice, nor will there be undue delays between notification and meetings themselves.

18. Where collective redundancies are likely to be made because of departmental, service, or divisional restructuring, staff will be advised of the restructuring and its potential consequences before individual consultation takes place. The time between such an announcement and individual discussion with members of staff at risk will be kept to a minimum, but sufficient for staff to prepare comments about the restructuring.

19. The Personnel Division shall advise managers on methods of communication as necessary.

AJ/ID - 2 November 2001