Redundancy Pools Across Group Companies

[WikiOne]

Hi everyone, hope you can help.

I work for a company which is apparently doing well, but everyone I work with can see the direction of the winds - there's a definite slowdown in business, and we reckon its only a matter of time until the R word gets wheeled out!

I work as a Finance Consultant for Company A, which is part of a wider group, called Group A. My role involves working on finance/accounting projects with small businesses across Scotland - basically doing work for companies which are too small to have their own Accountant.

Group A has acquired lots of companies across Scotland, England, and a couple in Germany. Some of those companies have employees which perform similar roles to mine. Additionally, Group A also has employees its self, who perform a role similar to mine - however their role is finance for the group, rather than being client-facing.

I have over 2-years length of service, and so I'm entitled to consultation, and to be fairly dismissed.

My questions are as follows:

1) Given that my role is similar to roles within other group companies, does that mean everyone across group companies which perform similar roles would need to be placed into the same selection pool?
2) Given that my role is similar to roles within the group its self, servicing the group, rather than being client facing, does that mean those roles would also need to be placed into a selection pool with me?
3) I have recently made a disclosure of being neurodiverse (reluctant to name the condition as it might identify me!) but I've not been offered occupational health. My condition makes it extraordinarily difficult to deal with uncertainty. I'd rather the certainty of mysery rather than the mysery of uncertainty... Would my employer need to make adjustments to any redundancy process for me? If so, what would these be likely to be?

Many thanks in advance.

[ULA]

Firstly given your post makes it is clear you are based and work in Scotland, I need to let you know this forum is based on the jurisdiction of England and Wales, that said employment law is broadly similar with Scottish employment law, however you must bear that in mind with any guidance you receive via this forum.

I appreciate that uncertainty is difficult for you to deal with but given this is currently a hypothetical situation and the reasons for any redundancies are unknown it is very difficult to provide anything definitive. However, it is fair to say that the employer, when deciding upon the "selection pool" in a redundancy situation, must always ensure careful consideration of what kind of work is disappearing, from which location or establishment and which employees do that kind of work. Other factors that come into the consideration, which may be relevant in this situation are the extent to which employees are doing similar work, the extent to which employees’ jobs are interchangeable and if the company/group is unionised, then whether the section pool has been agreed with the union or staff representatives.

If you have disclosed as having a neurodiverse condition then your employer would need to make consider making reasonable adjustments to the redundancy process to ensure that you are not put at a disadvantage because of your condition. What adjustments needed will depend on the condition and for example may mean that alternative arrangements may need to be made for holding consultation meetings with you or trying to set out precisely the process and timescales in which you will be communicated to.

I hope that this has given you some information but if you have further questions on what I have set out then please just come back to this thread. However without further detail beyond something may happen but not sure when, there may be little further guidance we can give at this stage but if it does become a reality then again there is this thread for you to come back to.