Government aims to ‘reinforce’ importance of collective consultation through doubling of protective award
From 6 April 2026, the penalty employers have to pay if they fail to comply with redundancy consultation rules will be increased from 90 to 180 days’ pay for each affected employee.
The collective redundancy protective award applies to employers that are proposing to make 20 or more redundancies at the same establishment, within a 90-day period.
The changes will double the maximum penalty employers have to pay if they do not comply with redundancy consultation rules.
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Unlike other areas of employment law, there is no cap on the daily amount of pay and employees do not need to have two years of service to be entitled to a protective award.
The new law will not apply to dismissals taking effect before 6 April.
The government said that the uplift in the maximum award is intended to “reinforce the importance of following proper collective consultation procedures”.
In order to be compliant, employers are expected to consult with either an employee or trade union representative. Collective consultations must cover the reasons for the redundancies, ways of limiting the total number of dismissals, any alternatives to redundancy and how employees will be selected.
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