Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2017 to Question 111066, on Britvic: Norwich, whether employers are require to issue form HR1 when they are considering significant job losses; and whether they are required to notify recognised trade unions when that form is issued.

Under Section 193 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA), an employer should notify my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State where it is proposed to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees from one establishment in 90 days or fewer. The Insolvency Service receives advanced notification of redundancies on behalf of the Secretary of State on form HR1.

There are set notification periods that a company needs to comply with. These are:

• 45 days for 100 or more redundancies, or
• 30 days for 20 to 99 redundancies

The information provided to the Secretary of State is commercially confidential and for the purpose of providing those facing redundancy with assistance such as training and job seeking advice. It is therefore shared with other Government Departments and Agencies, such as Job Centre Plus, who provide these services.

At the same time, Section 188 TULRCA requires that where there is a proposal to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees from one establishment in 90 days or less there is also a need for the employer to commence consultation about the dismissals with all persons who are appropriate representatives of any of the employees who may be affected by the proposed dismissals or may be affected by measures taken in connection with those dismissals. This would include any recognised trade unions.

The employer is also obliged to provide a copy of the advance notification provided to the Secretary of State to the appropriate representatives with whom they are consulting.