BUSINESSES facing the prospect of making staff redundant are being invited to a free advice session with a leading law firm.

Rollits is taking its seminar programme online for the first time, and is putting redundancy procedures resulting from – and in some cases delayed by – the Covid-19 lockdown under the spotlight.

The York firm will offer guidance to help businesses ensure they act fairly and within the law.

Ed Jenneson, head of the firm’s Employment Team, said the session would offer important advice at a particularly relevant time.

He said there was clear demand for the session.

"We have been receiving queries on a daily basis about issues including the requirement to consult and to collectively consult, redundancy pools and unique roles, alternative employment, redundancy payments and appeals.

“The furlough scheme is a factor. Some employers have been asking what their rights are under furlough and if they can still make people redundant. There are also cases where people were already planning to make redundancies but the process stalled because of the lockdown and they now want to resume. For some, Covid-19 has merely delayed the inevitable.”

The webinar is free to join, and takes place on Tuesday, July 7 at 10am with presentations by Ed and his colleagues Caroline Neadley and Ed Heppel.

It is expected to be of interest to directors, business owners, senior managers and HR professionals and will reinforce the work of the Business Support Team set up by Rollits to lead businesses to recovery from the impact of the coronavirus.

Ed said: “The webinar is an Employment Team event but it is relevant to the work of the Business Response Team and it is important to remember that a lot of the time redundancy is about protecting a business and helping it to survive.

“As a firm we have been very busy throughout lockdown, providing support for businesses. We know from experience that many sectors have been hit very hard, some will be slower than others to recover and they are having to cut their cloth accordingly, which unfortunately means looking at staff costs and potential redundancies. This event will help them through that process.”

To register for the event visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/employment-law-webinar-redundancy-a-practical-overview-tickets-110107309928