Selection, pooling, consultation and the collective duties, including protective awards and insolvency.
Falk and Tsoukalas's AI Layoff Trap shows that the only thing that stops over-automation is making each dismissal more expensive (the authors' “marginal instruments”). As currently drafted, Section 139(1)(b) ERA 1996 lets an employer replace an employee with a model and pay only a capped redundancy package; the most elegant fix open to a UK parliament is to redefine what counts as redundancy — turning the substitution from a safe exit into an exposed one.
In Ellard v Alliance Transport Technologies, the EAT held that day-one dismissals on the appointment of administrators can trigger the s.188 duty to consult, provided closure is a fixed, clear, albeit provisional intention rather than a mere possibility. With protective awards doubling to 180 days from 6 April 2026, the practical stakes have just doubled too.
A new economics paper models how AI reshapes firms from pyramids to diamonds. The implications for redundancy law, workforce planning, and the junior lawyers who may never be hired are worth taking seriously.
From 6 April 2026, the maximum protective award in collective redundancy cases doubles from 90 to 180 days' pay per employee. For any restructuring currently in planning, the exposure calculation needs to be revisited now. And the group structure trap catches out more employers than it should.
With Day One unfair dismissal rights expected in Q2/Q3 2026, employers have approximately 20 weeks to prepare. A practical checklist for probation policies, onboarding, and manager training.
A review of late December 2025 EAT judgments including Gormley (redundancy fairness) and Muda (state immunity).
In Chaudhry v Paperchase Products Ltd and anor, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed that an employee whose employer becomes insolvent cannot recover a basic award for unfair dismissal from the Secretary of State unless an Employment Tribunal has actually determined the claim and made such an award.
Redundancy · Insolvency: Employee Rights · Collective Redundancy: s.188 TULRCA