Form

Advance notification of redundancies: guidance for employers

Updated 2 August 2023

1. Requirement to notify about potential redundancies

There is a statutory requirement for the government to assist employees facing redundancy. To do this, employers must notify the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service of potential redundancies.

To notify us, you need to complete an advance notification of redundancies form (HR1) and return it to us.

If you do not comply with the statutory notification requirements without good cause may result in prosecution and a fine, on summary conviction, for the company and/or officer of the company.

We collect the information on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and distribute it to appropriate government departments and agencies who offer job brokering services and/or training services so that they can help your employees (for example Jobcentre Plus).

The information about your company is commercially confidential and can be used only for the purpose of assisting those facing redundancy. The other government departments and agencies are bound by the same confidentiality terms as us.

You will be contacted directly by your local Jobcentre Plus and other service providers in your local area with offers of assistance during this notification and consultation period.

Details of how the Insolvency Service treats personal information may be found in our personal information charter.

There is further guidance on redundancy handling and assistance for employers online.

2. Your legal obligations

You are required by law to notify us of a proposal to dismiss 20 or more employees as redundant at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less. An establishment is the site where an employee is assigned to work.

If you operate from more than one site, each one is treated separately for notification and consultation purposes.

You must complete a form for each site where 20 or more redundancies are proposed.

The minimum periods for notification and consultation are:

• between 20 to 99 redundancies at one of your establishments, the minimum period is 30 days before the first dismissal
• 100 or more redundancies at one of your establishments, the minimum period is 45 days before the first dismissal

You must notify us at least 30 or 45 days (depending on the number of dismissals) before the first dismissal and before you issue any individual notices of dismissal.

You must send a copy of the notification to the representatives of the employees being consulted.

If you have already notified us about one group of redundancies and you need to make further redundancies you should treat them as separate events. You do not need to add the numbers in 2 groups together to calculate the minimum period for either group.

The notification date is the date on which we receive your completed form.

If it is not reasonably practicable for you to comply with the minimum notification periods you must make every effort do so as far as you are able. You must give reasons why you could not provide the information on time.

3. How to complete the form

Use a separate form for each establishment where 20 or more redundancies may occur within a 90-day period.

If the circumstances outlined in this form change, please notify us immediately.

Return the completed form to HR1@insolvency.gov.uk

Please be aware all sections of the form must be completed. If any of the information is missing the form will not be accepted.