I work for redbridge institute of Adult education teacher

Is obtaining a qualification for any of the available jobs a possibility? 

I also wanted to make you aware that this is not always an instant service, due to various legal engagements I could have and I may not be able to reply immediately. However, rest assured that I am dealing with your query and will get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks.

Thank you very much for clarifying. Are you an employee or self-employed?

And were you expecting redundancy payment if being made redundant in these circumstances?

Thank you very much for clarifying. First of all, I am sorry to hear about the issues brought up by this. It must be a frustrating situation to go be going through.

Under normal circumstances, this would be a redundancy situation. According to Section 139 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, redundancy occurs if a dismissal is wholly or mainly attributable to one of the following circumstances:

1. Business closure – the whole of the employer’s business is closed

2. Workplace closure – closure or relocation of the actual workplace where the employee worked

3. Reduced requirement for employees to carry out work of a particular kind

Generally, redundancy occurs when an employer decides to reduce the number of its employees, either within the business as a whole, or within a particular site, business unit, function or job role. There are various reasons why this may happen, such as economic pressure, changes in the nature of products/services offered, internal reorganisation, workplace relocation, etc.

However, when it comes to rights on redundancy and receiving redundancy pay, these only apply to employees. Therefore, if you are genuinely self-employed, you do not have the legal right to receive any redundancy pay, even if this was a redundancy situation.

I fully appreciate that this may not be the answer you were hoping for, however it is the legal position. Should you need any further clarification, I will be more than happy to discuss things further with you. Thank you

Ok but my question above was whether you are self-employed and your answer was ‘self-employed with them’ – so are you self-employed or an employee with them?

ok so when you transitioned from office worker to tutor, did you remain an employee, or become self-employed?

Ok so as explained earlier, this is a redundancy situation. As part of a fair redundancy procedure, employers are required to offer suitable alternative employment to those employees who are at risk of redundancy. The objective is to avoid having to make them redundant and keep them in a suitable job, even if they have been made redundant from their original one.

Just because jobs are available does not mean this is not a redundancy and there are still further factors to consider.

Once an offer is made and subject to any successful selection, there are two possible outcomes:

- The employee accepts the offer – in this case their employment will continue in the new role and there would be no redundancy

- The employee rejects the offer – this should only happen if the job is not suitable and the employee reasonably rejects it. If these conditions are not met, they risk forfeiting their redundancy pay as they would be considered to have resigned instead.

As mentioned, there are two elements to a successful rejection – reasonableness and suitability. Reasonableness is based on the subjective reasons the employee has for rejecting it, such as personal circumstances, health, family commitments, etc. In the end, the main question is whether considering the particular circumstances, the employee acted reasonably in rejecting this offer.

Suitability is based on both objective and subjective criteria, with the most common factors that could make an offer unsuitable being:

- Job content/status – drop in status or significant changes in duties, which do not match the employee’s skills, experience and qualifications

- Pay and other benefits – significant drop in earnings/benefits (e.g. basic pay, bonuses, overtime, commission, etc)

- Working hours – change in shift pattern, significant extension/reduction of working hours

- Location – new workplace location, with an increased commute, making it unreasonable to travel there

- Job prospects – going from permanent to temporary or fixed-term work

Finally, where an offer of alternative employment has been made and its terms and conditions are different to the employee's current terms, they have the right to a 4-week trial period. This is an opportunity for both employer and employee to determine its suitability. If during the trial period they decide that the job is not suitable they should tell their employer straight away and terminate the trial period. Assuming the offer was not suitable and was reasonably rejected, they should still be made redundant from their original job and receive redundancy pay.