Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

Supplementary provisions

195 Meaning of “redundancy”

(1) In this Chapter, references to redundancy or to being redundant, in relation to an employee, are references to—

(a) the fact that the employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee is or was employed by him, or has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on that business in the place where the employee is or was so employed, or

(b) the fact that the requirements of that business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind, or for employees to carry out work of a particular kind in the place where he is or was so employed, have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish.

(2) In subsection (1)—

• “business” includes a trade or profession and includes any activity carried on by a body of persons, whether corporate or unincorporate; and

• “cease” means cease either permanently or temporarily and from whatever cause, and “diminish” has a corresponding meaning.

(3) For the purposes of any proceedings under this Chapter, the dismissal or proposed dismissal of an employee shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be by reason of redundancy.

196 Meaning of “trade union representative”

References in this Chapter to a trade union representative, in relation to an employer, are to an official or other person authorised by the trade union to carry on collective bargaining with that employer.

197 Power to vary provisions

(1) The Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument vary—

(a) the provisions of sections 188(2) and 193(1) (requirements as to consultation and notification), and

(b) the periods referred to at the end of section 189(4) (maximum protected period);

but no such order shall be made which has the effect of reducing to less than 30 days the periods referred to in sections 188(2) and 193(1) as the periods which must elapse before the first of the dismissals takes effect.

(2) No such order shall be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

198 Power to adapt provisions in case of collective agreement

(1) This section applies where there is in force a collective agreement which establishes—

(a) arrangements for providing alternative employment for employees to whom the agreement relates if they are dismissed as redundant by an employer to whom it relates, or

(b) arrangements for the handling of redundancies.

(2) On the application of all the parties to the agreement the Secretary of State may, if he is satisfied having regard to the provisions of the agreement that the arrangements are on the whole at least as favourable to those employees as the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, by order made by statutory instrument adapt, modify or exclude any of those provisions both in their application to all or any of those employees and in their application to any other employees of any such employer.

(3) The Secretary of State shall not make such an order unless the agreement—

(a) provides for procedures to be followed (whether by arbitration or otherwise) in cases where an employee to whom the agreement relates claims that any employer or other person to whom it relates has not complied with the provisions of the agreement, and

(b) provides that those procedures include a right to arbitration or adjudication by an independent referee or body in cases where (by reason of an equality of votes or otherwise) a decision cannot otherwise be reached,

or indicates that any such employee may present a complaint to an industrial tribunal that any such employer or other person has not complied with those provisions.

(4) An order under this section may confer on an industrial tribunal to whom a complaint is presented as mentioned in subsection (3) such powers and duties as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(5) An order under this section may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order thereunder either in pursuance of an application made by all or any of the parties to the agreement in question or without any such application.