Letter inviting applications for voluntary redundancy

What is a letter inviting applications for voluntary redundancy and when should you use it?

Although you are not legally obliged to offer employees the opportunity to apply for voluntary redundancy, providing it can bring costs and time-savings for you.

This letter sets out your invitation to affected employees to consider putting themselves forward for consideration.

If any employee accepts voluntary redundancy this may well resolve the problem for you and curtail the need for you to make any compulsory redundancies.

Our template steers you to set out the terms of the voluntary redundancy package.

You need to provide this detail.

This is an area where we definitely recommend you taking some expert advice.

You will need to explain in this communication, and in the wider ongoing discussions with your employees, that you’ll be considering, for example:

• affected employees’ length of service and age (this information is necessary in order to calculate entitlement to statutory redundancy pay)
• the redundancy pay calculation. You may decide to simply offer statutory redundancy pay, or offer a higher sum, at your discretion.

If you’re going to offer more than the required legal minimum, you should probably make this clear, as it can act as a bigger incentive to volunteer.

You are not obliged to accept a request for voluntary redundancy

But if you have requested applications, you must consider each fairly and according to objective criteria that you have set in place for this decision-making process.

Below we have set out a severance agreement in case just such a situation arises.

Severance agreement on acceptance of voluntary redundancy

Our Step by Step guide to handling redundancies sets out a practical action plan to help you handle the process.