NIM07050 | Class 1 NICs: Payments made under employment legislation: Redundancy: Protective awards: General

Sections 188-192 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

Under the above employment legislation, an employer who:

• is proposing to make 20 or more employees redundant at the same workplace;

• within 90 days or less of the first redundancy being made,

is required to consult appropriate employees’ representatives (ie, a trade union or elected employee representatives if there is no union) about the proposals. If the employer fails to do so, or does not comply with other specified statutory requirements,the representatives and/or the affected employees can complain to an employment tribunal(“ET”).

If the ET finds the complaint well-founded, it:

• will make a declaration to that effect; and

• may make a protective award.

If it makes a protective award, the employer is required to pay remuneration for a protected period, to

• any employee who has been made redundant, or whom the employer proposes to make redundant; and

• in respect of whom the employer failed to comply with the consultation requirements in section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

The protected period:

• begins with the date of the first redundancy or the date of the protective award, if earlier; and

• ends on such date as the ET considers just in the circumstances,

but must not be longer than 180 days in length.

For details about:

• the assessment by the employment tribunal of the amount payable by the employer to the employee, see NIM07051

• the NICs treatment of amounts payable by way of remuneration under a protective award, see NIM07052.