Governments redundancy scheme unlawful under forthcoming age regulations

The governmentís own redundancy scheme will be unlawful under forthcoming age regulations, which were laid before Parliament last week, according to an exclusive report in tomorrowís Personnel Today magazine.

As a result, the large numbers of UK employers which have based their enhanced redundancy schemes on the civil service model could face discrimination claims worth millions of pounds when the new regulations come into force on 1 October.

In an unexpected change to draft regulations, the final version makes redundancy schemes that offer enhanced versions of the statutory redundancy scheme unlawful unless they can be ìobjectively justifiedî. So, payments based on age or length-of-service will not be allowed unless the employer can prove they have a significant impact on the business.

Sam Mercer, director of the Employers Forum on Age, told Personnel Today: ìMany employers will have re-negotiated schemes in advance of the regulations, they will have given staff notice of their new schemes, yet they could be unlawful. The ironic thing is that even the governmentís own redundancy scheme doesnít comply.î

Michael Millar, deputy news editor at Personnel Today, said: ìThis is proving to be a bad couple of weeks for the government. This latest mistake could affect thousands of people working in the public and private sector. It will also give more ammunition to the trade unions who are already complaining that redundancy payouts in the UK are tiny compared to those in other European countries.î