The government has published an updated version of form HR1. Where an employer is proposing to make 20 or more redundancies at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less, they must give advance notification of those potential redundancies to the Secretary of State using form HR1. In practice, the form is returned by email to the Redundancy Payments Service. It must be returned at least 30 days before the first dismissal takes effect if between 20 and 99 redundancies are proposed, or at least 45 days before the first dismissal takes effect if 100 or more redundancies are proposed, and before any individual notices of dismissal are issued to employees. A separate form HR1 form needs to be used for each establishment where 20 or more redundancies may occur within a 90-day period, as each establishment or site is treated separately for notification purposes.
The amended form HR1 is slightly shorter but it is now accompanied by a new guidance document for employers which extracts much of the guidance which was previously part of the old form HR1. The guidance includes information on the requirement to notify about potential redundancies, the employer’s legal obligations and how to complete the form.
Failure to comply with the statutory notification requirements without good cause may result in prosecution and an uncapped fine.
