Redundancy rights

[AndyC]

I work in a college. I am the longest serving member of staff in our department but am a long way from retirement. We will be moving to a new site in a couple of years and redundancies are definitely on the cards. I am concerned about the lack of communication from my employer.

Will we need to reduce student intake due to smaller accommodation? Will there be facilities to teach ICT, a subject I volunteered to coordinate several years ago? Apparently no one knows...

I want to know what rights I have, what responsibilities, if any, management have to tell us what's happening. They have known the building we are moving into for a long time but have been very tight lipped about which rooms will be for our use.

Our programme used to provide English, maths and ICT, an emphasis on English with maths and ict hours on parity. The ICT hours have been cut in half for next year. What was seen as being an essential part of the programme has now become very peripheral.

I still have some of my ICT teaching hours for next year with rest being made up of 'add ons', but am very worried about the longer term implications. If there are not going to be any IT facilities in the new digs, then why not tell us?

I used to teach the main 'bread and butter' subject English as that was what I trained to teach. A provision was being developed to add maths and ICT to the curriculum. Although it would have been easier for me to continue teaching English, I chose the hard route and volunteered to develop the ICT curriculum from scratch which until now had been going well. I have been doing ICT full time ever since. (A lack of external funding for it means there is less of a 'need' for it now.)

I am really starting to regeret taking on the role to coordinate ICT. If ICT is scrapped, I would happily go back to teaching English (I would happily go back to teaching English now!) but will I be allowed to?

Other staff teaching English havent been there as long as I have. They earn less than I do. Can the college say they have a right to keep their English teaching hours (coincidentally being on cheaper contracts) and if ICT goes, I am redundant as a result?

I know this is slightly hypothetical as it hasn't happened yet but I want to know where I would stand if ICT is taken off the curriculum and redundancies are taking place.

Thanks for any replies,

[ULA]

I do appreciate that you are getting anxious about the situation, however with it being a few years ahead for the college to relocate they may not have fully defined their plans for the courses and the content of them that will be running from this new site. Obviously without this level of planning they will not be able to assess the impact, if any, on teaching staff.

Should there be a redundancy situation then the college will need to undergo a redundancy consultation process which is clearly defined if they do not want to "fall foul" of their obligations. If ICT is taken off the curriculum then those staff affected will become part of a

redundancy consultation process which includes considering whether job losses can be avoided and also whether there are other suitable alternative positions that can be offered to affected staff.

Seeing as you have a background in English and it appears that your ICT teaching time is being reduced next year it may be an idea to see if you can discuss with your manager about your credentials in teaching English and seeing if you can pick up as many of the "add on" hours in that subject, thereby brining your English teaching skills "back up" having been out of it for a while. That way if the time comes and a redundancy programme is undertaken then you have improved your own personal situation because of the teaching skills that you have across more than one subject area. It would also mean that if unfortunately you were made redundant you potentially make yourself more marketable for finding a new position.

I hope this guidance helps and gives you some practical pointers to consider until such times as there is in fact more clarity about the college's direction when they move location.

[AndyC]

Thanks ULA, I really appreciate your response. I will arrange to talk with my manager.

[ULA]

Hope it all goes well. We are hete if you need anymore support.