22 April 2026
The UK government has opened a formal call for evidence on the threshold for triggering collective redundancy obligations, inviting views from individuals or employees, academic and research individuals or organisations, employers, legal representatives, business representative organisations, trade unions and any other relevant stakeholders.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 will introduce new protections so that employers will be required to undertake collective redundancy consultation and notification whenever they make a threshold number of redundancies across their entire organisation. The government is seeking views on the level and methods by which the new threshold might be set.
The consultation is aiming to understand:
1. What are the main benefits and drawbacks of collective redundancy consultation in practice (including its effectiveness in avoiding or reducing redundancies and in improving redundancy terms, and the degree of burden it places on employers)?
2. Do employers voluntarily go beyond the legal minimum in collective consultation and why?
3. How do employers currently monitor the number of redundancies across their organisation?
4. The consultation proposes 4 methods to trigger collective redundancy obligations, which approach do you see as most and least appropriate? Why?
5. Within a fixed-number model, what range or specific level should the organisation‑wide threshold sit within (e.g. 250, 500, 750, 1,000 or another figure? Why?
6. What are the potential risks, unintended consequences or fairness issues associated with each of the 4 methods proposed?
7. Are there international approaches or best practices on collective redundancy thresholds and consultation triggers that the UK should consider?
8. What are the potential impacts of these proposals on individuals with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, how might any negative impacts be mitigated, and are there any wider risks or issues not covered elsewhere that Government should consider?
You can respond to the consultation by 21 May 2026 online, by email at [email protected], or by post.
Information provided in this news article may be subject to change. Please make note of the date of publication to ensure that you are viewing up to date information.