ERA 2025: Collective Redundancy — Consultation Threshold Changes

The Employment Rights Act 2025 amends the collective redundancy consultation rules. The key change for employers is how the 20-employee threshold is calculated — with proposals to count redundancies across an employer's entire organisation rather than per establishment.

This matters significantly for businesses with multiple sites. Under the previous rule, you could make 19 redundancies at one location without triggering the 45-day collective consultation period. Under the reformed rules, all proposed redundancies across all locations would be aggregated. If you are planning restructuring across sites, 45-day consultation may now apply where it did not before.

Collective consultation is demanding. It requires properly elected employee representatives, a schedule of consultation meetings, and written information about the proposed redundancies — numbers, criteria, method of selection, and the method for calculating redundancy payments. Mellow's workforce planning module helps you model restructuring scenarios before you begin, so you understand the consultation obligations before any announcement is made.