Organisational Change, Redundancy and Restructuring

Strategic employment law support to help employers restructure their workforce, manage redundancies and implement organisational change fairly and effectively.

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Organisations may need to restructure their workforce because of changing commercial priorities, reduced demand, financial pressures, new technology, business growth or a change in how services are delivered. These decisions can affect individual roles, reporting structures, teams and, in some cases, result in redundancies.

DTM Legal advises employers throughout redundancy and restructuring programmes. We help businesses plan the process, identify legal risks, consult with affected employees and representatives and implement decisions in a fair and commercially practical way.

Our Employment & HR solicitors can support anything from a small restructure affecting a handful of employees to larger collective redundancy exercises. Where organisational change forms part of a sale, acquisition, insolvency process or wider corporate restructuring, we can work alongside DTM Legal’s Corporate & Commercial and Business Recovery teams.

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Organisational Change Legal Services

We provide practical advice and support across a wide range of redundancy and restructuring matters, including:

  • Workforce restructuring and organisational redesign
  • Redundancy planning and strategy
  • Identifying potentially redundant roles
  • Establishing appropriate redundancy pools
  • Preparing objective selection criteria and scoring exercises
  • Individual redundancy consultation
  • Collective redundancy consultation
  • Election of employee representatives
  • Consultation with recognised trade unions
  • Preparing consultation documents and communications
  • Completing HR1 notifications
  • Considering alternatives to redundancy
  • Voluntary redundancy programmes
  • Suitable alternative employment
  • Redeployment and selection for alternative roles
  • Redundancy payments and notice entitlements
  • Employees on maternity, adoption and other family-related leave
  • Disability and discrimination considerations
  • Senior executive redundancies
  • Settlement agreements and agreed exits
  • Appeals against redundancy decisions
  • Defending unfair dismissal and discrimination claims
  • Protective award claims
  • Management and HR training for redundancy processes

Why Instruct DTM Legal?

Restructuring decisions are usually driven by commercial requirements, but the way those decisions are implemented can significantly affect legal risk. Our Employment & HR team works with employers from the planning stage so that consultation, selection and communication arrangements support the intended business outcome.

We help employers establish a clear rationale for change, identify who may be affected and design a fair process. Where collective consultation requirements apply, we can advise on employee representatives, statutory information, consultation timetables and notification to the Redundancy Payments Service.

Our advice remains focused on the wider organisation as well as the immediate employment process. We help clients consider alternatives, retain key employees where possible and manage communications in a way that supports the workforce through a period of uncertainty.

We provide:

  • Practical and commercially focused restructuring advice
  • Early identification of redundancy and consultation requirements
  • Support designing fair selection processes
  • Guidance on individual and collective consultation
  • Assistance with employee and representative communications
  • Advice on redundancy payments, redeployment and alternative roles
  • Representation where Employment Tribunal claims arise

Get in Touch

Whether you are planning a small restructure or a large-scale redundancy programme, our Employment & HR team can help you develop a fair, practical and legally compliant process.

To discuss your requirements, contact us by emailing employment@dtmlegal.com or calling 01244 354 800 / 0151 321 0000.

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Partner / Head of Employment & HR
DTM Legal
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Key Considerations When Planning Organisational Change

Read our Key Considerations guide to understand some of the points a solicitor may wish to discuss when responding to your enquiry. It can help you prepare the relevant information and make your initial conversation more productive.

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DTM Legal
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Employment & HR Team

Tom Evans

Partner / Head of Employment & HR
Jamie-Lea Taylor

Paralegal, Residential Conveyancing
Molly Drake

Solicitor, Commercial Property
Alison Brennan

Head of Compliance and Service Delivery

Frequently Asked Questions

Commonly asked questions concerning legal services for collective change or trade union relations.

Collective consultation is required where an employer proposes to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less.

Consultation must begin in good time and at least 30 days before the first dismissal where 20 to 99 redundancies are proposed, or 45 days beforehand where 100 or more are proposed. From 6 April 2026, the maximum protective award for failing to comply increased to 180 days’ full pay for each affected employee.

An employer can agree to recognise a trade union voluntarily. Recognition allows the union to negotiate collectively on behalf of an agreed group of employees, known as the bargaining unit.

Where voluntary recognition is not agreed, an eligible independent union may apply to the Central Arbitration Committee for statutory recognition if the employer has more than 21 workers. The employer normally has 10 working days to respond to an initial statutory recognition request.

A collective agreement is an arrangement reached between an employer and a recognised trade union through collective bargaining. It may cover matters such as pay, working hours, holidays, negotiation procedures and the employees included within the bargaining unit.

Terms agreed collectively can become part of individual employment contracts, including where contracts incorporate the relevant collective agreement. Employers should ensure any resulting changes are clearly documented and communicated to affected employees.

The statutory collective redundancy procedure will not ordinarily apply where fewer than 20 redundancies are proposed at one establishment within 90 days. Employers should still carry out meaningful individual consultation and follow a fair redundancy process.

Existing recognition or collective agreements may also require consultation with a trade union even where the statutory threshold is not reached. Employers should therefore review both the legal position and any agreed workplace procedures before beginning the process.

Yes. Many disputes can be addressed through collective bargaining, established workplace procedures, direct negotiation, mediation or assistance from Acas.

Seeking advice early can help the employer clarify its legal position, identify areas for compromise and avoid unnecessary escalation. Where agreement cannot be reached, DTM Legal can advise on CAC proceedings, Employment Tribunal claims and other formal options.

What our Clients Say

See what our customers have to say about their experience

Review Solicitors Stars
5/5 350+Reviews
Steve Tatham
26/04/2026
Tom Evans provided an excellent service regarding my recent Voluntary Redundancy. Tom was friendly, knowledgeable and helpful in supporting the processing of the legal documentation around redundancy. Tom was very timely and managed our sessions well to ensure we didn’t overrun. I would highly recommend Tom and use him again if I needed legal support.
Ellie
27/10/2026
DTM’s employment department has dealt with a couple of matters on our behalf. They have dealt with all matters efficiently, providing clear advice on employment law, whilst also understanding the commercial aspects of suggested actions.
Mia
15/10/2023
They feel like an extension to our business. They fully understand our business inside and out and are very responsive and provide a huge level of support.

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