Redundancy pay?- offered a new contract but already have another job

casualwalks

Hello,

Hoping for some advice. I was informed at the beginning of July (through a formal redundancy process) that my current contract would not be renewed when it expired on 30th September. I had been in my job for 2.5 years when I was advised of the upcoming redundancy.

I set about applying for jobs and was offered a job (permanent this time, yay!) at another company and happily accepted it. I negotiated a start date of 2nd November, as I am finishing off a PhD thesis and wanted to use my redundancy pay to fund a month off work to help finish writing up.

Last week my manager advised that there may be an offer of a new 12-month contract, and I received an email from HR today offering a renewal. I obviously cannot accept the offer as I have committed to a new (and better) post, but does this mean that my current employer won't need to pay me any redundancy pay? I have stayed until the end of my contract (although I am now using up annual leave until the end of September). Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

elsien

Generally speaking if they've offered you a suitable alternative and yout decline it then it's not a redundancy situation. 
Although I'm a bit confused as to why it would be redundancy anyway if you're on a fixed term contract which has come to an end. 

casualwalks

I believe that as I have been employed for over 2.5 years (even though it was on a fixed term contract) redundancy processes still apply, it's certainly the policy of my current employer, hence I had formal meeting with a team manager under the organisation's redundancy policy. This has happened to me before (on a fixed term at another work placed for 3.5 years) and had to go through redundancy processes, and received redundancy pay.

casualwalks

For reference, it's because the employment was over 2 years https://www.gov.uk/fixed-term-contracts/renewing-or-ending-a-fixedterm-contract

getmore4less

They have renewed the contract  therefore  no redundancy.

It is not unknown for companies to mysteriously find a suitable alternative once they know you have a job to go to that you are unlikely to turn down.

What is not clear is if they actually put you on notice of termination due to redundancy or just said we won't be renewing.

If they have not given formal notice what are the notice requirements in the contract, because now they have offered renewal you may need to refuse the new contract and resign.

Where possible to block this "we found you a job" employees can use counter notice  but with 2 years service you could not do that yet. 

JReacher1

Of course you can’t get redundancy as they’ve offered you a contract extension. 

casualwalks

getmore4less said:

What is not clear is if they actually put you on notice of termination due to redundancy or just said we won't be renewing.

They put me on a notice of termination due to redundancy (I have the letter) due to the funding for my role (unexpectedly) drying up. They found more money because they have drawn resources from a different source following intervention from professional bodies who opposed the reduction in staffing.

Juliette100

You said they informed you you’d be made redundant.  Did they issue redundancy paperwork closing out the consultation and confirming your exit. If so and things have changed then you can choose to accept the role or not without impacting your redundancy. If nothing was confirmed about your redundancy pay and termination date then that may be a trickier task if this offer is part of the ongoing consultation process and before any final decision has been made. If they closed out consultation and a decision was made then continuing to offer random roles 2 months down the line is nice but you also have to plan. 

getmore4less

They can withdraw the redundancy with a suitable alternative even after being put on notice any time before the termination date.
employment act section 141 kicks
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/141

If they consider the refusal unreasonable you will be in the hands of an ET as if section 142 applied.

Juliette100

You should ask them. Some employers given the lag will honour redundancy but if they have a suitable alternative role then get the details in writing including impact on your redundancy situation so you know were you stand.  A redundancy package statutory vs you securing a full time perm role somewhere may not need that much thinking. 

casualwalks

Juliette100 said:

You said they informed you you’d be made redundant.  Did they issue redundancy paperwork closing out the consultation and confirming your exit. If so and things have changed then you can choose to accept the role or not without impacting your redundancy. If nothing was confirmed about your redundancy pay and termination date then that may be a trickier task if this offer is part of the ongoing consultation process and before any final decision has been made. If they closed out consultation and a decision was made then continuing to offer random roles 2 months down the line is nice but you also have to plan. 

Hi, Sorry only just saw this. I had a formal meeting with line manager (was advised union rep could be present) after I was issued with a letter headed "Non-Renewal of Fixed Term Contracts and Redundancy by way of Termination of specific, fixed term, funding stream policy", the letter also stated that:

"Further to our consultation meeting held on xxxx, Iam writing to confirm that your fixed-term appointment will terminate on 30thSeptember 2020 in line with the Non-Renewal of Fixed Term Contracts and Redundancy by way of Termination of specific, fixed term, funding stream policy"

When I was offered the new contract, I wrote to them to say that I could not accept a renewal and offered the "reasonable" reason to refuse the contract as being that I had new employment. They have accepted this and then have written to me that they accept my resignation, I haven't confirmed anything in relation to that letter because I haven really resigned, have I? I haven't been able to accept the new contract and I have a pretty good reason to refuse, mainly that I already accepted another post. I am waiting to hear back from the union about what I should do/say but they are slow in getting back to me.