Facing Redundancy

[dre101uk]

Hi all back again,

First of all thanks for your help regarding my contract issue last time, my money got put up to £18k.

Bad news is that the company is looking to close down our Nottingham office and move our work to another office over 50 miles away. We were informed of this on 17/06/2013 and have been advised in writing that our consultation begins on 25/06/2013 and is anticipated to last until 25/07/2013.

The proposal is to move the accounts work to our Stoke office, I have been advised by my line manager that my role is being moved to Stoke and that as long as I can get there the job is there for me but in our business review it states "You would be offered the opportunity to go into a selection pool of limited roles available in Stoke".

Now between 25th June & 25th July there will be 3 consultation meetings between myself, a HR representative and my line manager to explore all possibilities and put forward views/suggestions in relation to the proposal.

I have also been informed that there will be a 3 month period where I could work in the Stoke branch and if it's not for me I can still take my redundancy, also there is a 17p fuel allowance after the first 10 miles of the journey which I have calculated around £3,500 but this does not take into consideration the wear and tear on my vehicle or the increased insurance costs as I would be travelling another 25,000 miles each year.

So far I have the following questions:

1. Can you confirm that the role in Stoke is the exact same role for me as the role in Nottingham?
2. Will my contract change?
3. If I decided to take redundancy, when is the earliest date I could give notice?
4. What is the date you are looking to close the Nottingham branch?
5. When would the 3 month trial period in Stoke begin? Also how much notice would I have to give if I decided it wasn't right for me and want to take redundancy?
6. If I decide to take redundancy, would there be an appropriate handover for Stoke staff?
7. How much is fuel allowance? Also how long will the allowance last for?
8. If my car breaks down could I claim back public travel expenses e.g. Train?
9. To save money on the fuel allowance is there a possibility of working from home part of the week e.g. 2-3 days a week?
10. Who will I be reporting into?

Does anyone have any advice or other questions I should be asking? It's my first time being made redundant and unsure if I'm missing anything.

As always you're advice is much appreciated

Thanks

Kind regards

Oliver

[Eloise01]

Re: Facing Redundancy

You are missing two things:

(a) the law says that the trail period in the case of a suitable alternative is four weeks - if the employer intends to extend this to three months you want that promise in writing

(b) redundancy is not a right - if you unreasonably refuse a suitable alternative position then the employer can refuse redundancy. So it isn't quite as simple as you deciding whether it is for you or not. And this is particularly relevant in relation to point (a) - in law if you refuse a job after the four week trial without any other agreement in place, there is no redundancy - it's a resignation.