Reforming the statutory redundancy consultation procedure

Abstract

The Labour government's Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 have introduced amendments to the existing legislation on employees' information and consultation rights in the event of redundancies and transfers of undertakings. This article reviews the background to this initiative and assesses the significance of the changes, drawing on research into current practice in respect of redundancy consultation and the effects of the previous government's 1995 regulations of the same name. The research broadly supports the government's case for the main changes made by the 1999 regulations. The article concludes with a discussion of the efficacy of the burgeoning range of ad hoc, issue-specific employee representation mechanisms which now feature in UK law. The European Commission's proposal for a Directive on national information and consultation procedures would, if ever adopted, signal the end for UK governments' continued reliance on such an approach for the purposes of fulfilling EU consultation requirements.

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