Role erosion very strange case exit package on which grounds

[Plummer1980]

Hello everyone, this is a very complex situation and I will try my best to explain as thorowly as possible.
I have worked for the same business in a retail head office for 20 years in data control and they are going through a transformation currently where they are building in-house systems and demising the only system in which I use.
They have reskilled and shared future plans with all other departments but myself and I have noticed over a period of say a year that my tasks are slowly diminishing.
I have asked questions to line managers however I get ignored and ended up going through a grievance and then followed by a grievance appeal. The findings in the these outcomes were that I have sufficient and adequate workload which is untrue as I have around 30% of my contracted duties remaining and have around an hour of work each day which has been noted by my manager.
I have been in touch with acas whom will contact my employer and ask for a exit package but have asked me to get legal advice on whether this could potentially be constructed dismissal if I leave the business or is it a breach of contract due to them refusing to change my job description or make amendments. It has really played on my mind alot and have been off for some time recently with stress due to no job securities and worry.
I cannot see there being a role left for me going forward and it seems they are using me to prop up and map over accurate data to the new world of systems where another data department will use it to carry out my tasks.
I understand I am still employed with the business and that I have not been made redundant as of yet but if this was to happen then they have forced it to head that way.
thank you so much for reading this and would really appreciate any help in answering.

[ULA]

In respect of your call with ACAS I can provide information on the what they have asked you to get legal advice on.

Constructive Dismissal:

Constructive dismissal is where an employer has committed a serious breach of contract, entitling the employee to resign in response to the employer's conduct. A lot of people think resigning and claiming constructive dismissal is a good option for dealing with problems at work, however resigning is a big step and you might be able to solve your problem without resigning.

Also, it is in fact difficult to prove constructive dismissal - not many claims win. You need to show that you resigned as a result of a fundamental breach of contract on the part of the company, or a breach of what is called the "implied duty of trust and confidence". The bar is set quite high for claimants in this respect as you will need to convince the tribunal that the company acted without good cause in a way which was likely to destroy the relationship of trust and confidence between an employer and an employee.

You must also show that your decision to terminate your employment was in response to the breach and not, for example, because you had been offered a more attractive job. An employment tribunal will also need to satisfy itself that you did not delay too long in resigning and they will usually expect that you have tried to resolve the complaint through the grievance procedure before resigning.

Breach of Contract:

Have any of the contractual terms of your employment changed?

Salary?
Location?
Grade (if applicable)?
Holiday entitlement?
Hours of work?
Benefit?
Changes in any other terms?

If the answer to the above is "no" then unlikely you have a breach of contract claim.

Appreciate that you have raised a grievance but not sure what that was.

Have you spoken to your manager / HR about what the plan is for reskilling you to the new in-house system so that at the point the demised system is not longer being used you can move across to work on the new one? If you have not had that discussion then I suggest, that at this point, you try and arrange a meeting with the relevant people to see whether there is a reskilling path for you.

[Plummer1980]

Thank you Ula for the reply which is very detailed and thoughtout.
the reasoning behind the original greivance was because I had seen the companies presentations and roadmaps and as a data team we were not included.
everyone whom uses the old system has been given training for the new system and tech IT guys who coded and managed the back end of the old system in support desk had put up on linkedin on the companies site that they were taking time out to reskill for the new system also but I was not included.
also I noticed many of my responsibility and duties were included within another data teams job advertisement and they are taking over the new system which is very much automated.

the answer to me from the greivance and their findings was that although many of my tasks have been removed I have sufficient and adequate workload to carry on with the demise and they do not know what my job will be going forward.
I find that I am only doing 1 hour of tasks from the data inbox and calendar entries so my 8 hours a day really hasn't got sufficient workload due to other departments taking away my contracted duties.

I thought that potential breach of contract due to the duties being given to other departments and the company have a responsibility like myself to provide the work for those duties.
the fact that the business have not carried out the information sharing part from the greivance suggestion on their side but leaving me not knowing for such a long period of time whilst seeing others take my tasks which would create a redundancy going forward if I had no workload.
why do I sound like minority report here lol.

acas asked me to send my greivance and outcomes from them. What if any jurisdictions I could or would claim for after seeking legal advice. And what my ideal outcome would be such as agreed exit package or respondent to provide me with more information about my role going forward.

[ULA]

My view is that before you an make an informed decision you need to understand what role would be available to you once the old system which you have worked on for as long as you have is not longer being used.

[Plummer1980]

Thanks Ula, I would like to let you know what happened last week which I thought was very strange.
my head of department called me on a teams video call and said can i keep this off the record and talk as your friend here in confidence.
He isn't my friend and said to be patient. When I asked what that means he said the R word would be coming soon in the next few weeks.
Should I just wait and see what happens as there is two of us in the same role or take it that my cards are marked already as he said he would look after the other colleague who wishes to stay and is adamant has lots of work on.

[ULA]

I can only offer an view on the situation but the decision has to one that you make.

If in the next few weeks there is a redundancy announcement then they need to go through a consultation process, which I do appreciate is stressful for those people involved. This will involve making the announcement, saying why and what areas are affected, what roles are in the "at risk pool", what the selection criteria will be and then letting individuals know the outcome of the scoring against that selection criteria. There should also be discussions about any other suitable alternative roles that may be available.

You have worked for the same business for 20 years which is the cap on length of service for statutory redundancy payments. I have linked to the government website so that you can calculate the statutory redundancy payment:

https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-redundancy-pay

If you left prior to this process commencing, if you could find a role that quickly, then there would be no redundancy payment on offer.

They may go through the redundancy process and you may not even be the person who is made redundant or, you are but there may be a suitable alternative role on offer for you to move to.

So my view would be, know that the process will not be easy but maybe ride it out see what happens but in the meantime get your CV written and out there, in case you are made redundant and there is no suitable alternative role for you. If you have used the calculator to work out your redundancy payment, if that is the outcome, you can at least also be planning ahead financially knowing what you would be entitled to.