Possible redundancy with very little notice

[mattw12345]

Hello all,

I sadly received an email on 1630 from my company telling me my job was at threat and that I had a meeting to discuss on Tuesday at 10am. Which literally leaves me no time to prepare or seek professional advice. Is this common to receive such short notice? I've attached the email below. I find it pretty distressing to read as I've been at the company two years and have contributed hugely to creating new applications for the business. It's so cold, there's no acknowledgement of my contributions, no sense of empathy as to how this might be making me feel and nothing about the kind of support they would offer. Is it reasonable to bring this up in the meeting and ask questions, such as, was the letter signed off by the company, or was it direct from my boss? It is out of odds with the company ethos for sure. And also asking the reasons why I have been given so little notice. The email says I can bring professional support, but there is literally no way I could get this given I got it last thing on Friday and it's a bank holiday weekend.

I should note, I messaged the manager and asked this:
"I would like to know if this due to an allegation of breach of contract and if so what that is so that I have a chance to prepare for this if that is the case."

And I received this response:
"It is not due to a breach of contract . I will talk you through in the meeting. "

Any thoughts appreciated.


I am writing to advise you that you are required to attend a meeting on [date and time]. This meeting will be held virtually. You will receive a separate email with details of how to join the meeting. The meeting will be chaired by [a manager]. Another member of staff will also be present as a note-taker.

At the meeting, we will discuss upcoming changes at the company. You should be aware that the outcome of the meeting could be up to and including the termination of your employment.

You have the statutory right to be accompanied at the meeting by either a work colleague or a trade union official of your choice. Your companion will be permitted to address the meeting and confer with you during the meeting. Please let me know if you are going to be accompanied and the name of the person by [a reasonable time before the meeting].

Please confirm that you are able to attend by [confirmation deadline]. You should take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting. Failure to attend without good reason could result in the meeting being held, and a decision being taken on your ongoing employment, in your absence.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries about the contents of this letter.

[ULA]

They should be inviting you to the first meeting in a redundancy consultation process. Unfortunately, this is a formal process which can lead to the kind of correspondence you have received.

That being said it is a consultation process, so this meeting should set out the reasons as to why your role is being made redundant, asking you to make any suggestions for ways in which redundancy can be avoided and letting you know of any suitable alternative positions that you could apply for. They should advise over what timescales they will be consulting with you and in the event your employment is terminated by way of redundancy, what your payments will be.

This should not be the meeting at which your employment is terminated.