This course provides managers and other responsible staff in health and social care, charity and voluntary organisations with a clear introduction to managing redundancy and restructuring. It explains how organisational change can affect employees, teams and services, and highlights the importance of following an organised, fair and evidence-based process.
This free course covers genuine redundancy situations, alternatives to dismissal, consultation, selection processes, statutory redundancy and notice principles, suitable alternative employment and enhanced employee protections. It also explores TUPE-related change, communication, employee support and the workforce and service-continuity risks that may arise following restructuring.
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Why Take This eLearning Course?
Redundancy and restructuring can involve difficult decisions, detailed employment requirements and significant uncertainty for employees. Managers need to understand their responsibilities while recognising when decisions or legal questions must be referred to HR or specialist advisers. This course supports a consistent, respectful approach to organisational change while keeping consultation, workforce needs and service delivery in view.
This course will help you to:
- Distinguish between redundancy, restructuring and other employment issues.
- Recognise situations that may amount to genuine redundancy.
- Consider realistic alternatives that could reduce or avoid job losses.
- Support meaningful individual and collective consultation.
- Communicate proposed changes clearly and sensitively.
- Contribute to fair, evidence-based selection processes.
- Understand key redundancy pay, notice and alternative-employment principles.
- Recognise circumstances requiring enhanced employee protection or specialist advice.
- Understand how TUPE may interact with restructuring and redundancy.
- Support employees, remaining teams and service continuity following organisational change.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Define redundancy and restructuring and explain the difference between them.
- Identify common genuine redundancy situations and appropriate alternatives to dismissal.
- Describe the manager’s responsibilities and limits during organisational change.
- Explain individual and collective consultation requirements covered by the course.
- Identify the records needed to support a clear and auditable process.
- Describe fair selection pools, criteria and evidence-based scoring.
- Recognise discrimination, protected-status and unfair-selection risks.
- Explain key principles relating to redundancy pay, notice and suitable alternative employment.
- Describe when TUPE may be relevant and recognise situations requiring specialist advice.
- Identify practical actions for supporting affected employees, remaining teams and continuing services.
Managing Redundancy and Restructuring Course Outline
Module 1: Understanding Redundancy and Restructuring
Learners will explore the distinction between redundancy and restructuring and identify when organisational change may create a genuine redundancy situation. The module considers service closures, relocation, reduced funding, technological change and changing workforce requirements, while distinguishing redundancy from conduct or capability matters. Learners will also consider alternatives such as redeployment, retraining, voluntary redundancy and agreed changes to working arrangements. The module explains the manager’s role in providing accurate information, supporting consultation and working within organisational authority, including when HR, employment-law or jurisdiction-specific advice is required.
Module 2: Consultation, Communication and Process Records
Learners will examine how meaningful individual consultation should provide affected employees with information, an opportunity to respond and the ability to suggest alternatives before decisions are finalised. The module introduces collective consultation requirements in Great Britain, including the circumstances in which larger proposed redundancy exercises require representative consultation and coordinated HR involvement. It also explains the importance of maintaining accurate business rationales, consultation records, workforce information and decision-making documentation. Learners will consider how to communicate proposals sensitively across office-based, dispersed and multi-site teams while protecting confidentiality and keeping messages consistent.
Module 3: Fair Selection and Redundancy Decision-Making
Learners will explore how selection pools and objective criteria can be used where an organisation needs to reduce the number of employees undertaking comparable work. The module covers relevant skills, qualifications, performance information and disciplinary records, alongside the need for reliable evidence and consistent scoring. Learners will also examine discrimination risks, protected characteristics, potentially unequal effects of apparently neutral criteria, absence-related considerations and enhanced vacancy rights. The module concludes by explaining how managers should respond to challenges about scores, evidence or treatment and when disputed issues should be escalated to HR or specialist advisers.
Module 4: Redundancy Pay, Notice and Alternative Employment
Learners will develop an understanding of the general principles governing statutory redundancy pay in Great Britain, including eligibility, service, age and weekly-pay considerations, while recognising that individual calculations should be confirmed through HR or payroll. The module also explains statutory and contractual notice, payment in lieu of notice and the distinction between notice payments and redundancy payments. Learners will consider suitable alternative employment, including how vacancies may be assessed, offered and trialled, and why refusals require careful review. Enhanced protection for employees who are pregnant or taking, or have recently taken, specified forms of family-related leave is also addressed.
Module 5: TUPE, Transfers and Organisational Change
Learners will examine when the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations may become relevant during outsourcing, insourcing, service-provider changes or transfers of commissioned health and social care services. The module explains that a transfer does not itself justify redundancy and explores the need for a genuine redundancy situation, fair consultation and appropriate selection. Learners will consider consultation before and after a transfer, restrictions on premature selection or dismissal, and the importance of coordinating workforce decisions between the organisations involved. Contract changes, harmonisation, workforce overlap and transfer-related redundancies are highlighted as areas where specialist HR or employment-law advice may be necessary.
Module 6: Employee Support, Team Stability and Service Continuity
Learners will consider practical ways to support employees affected by redundancy, including clear process information, available wellbeing resources, redeployment or retraining opportunities and relevant job-search rights. The module also addresses the needs of employees remaining after restructuring, including communication about new responsibilities, workload monitoring, supervision and training. Learners will examine risks relating to staffing levels, capacity, loss of organisational knowledge, continuity of care or support and safeguarding arrangements. The module concludes with a practical management approach to checking procedures, escalating uncertainty and monitoring whether the new structure is operating safely and effectively.
Target Audience
This course is suitable for:
- Registered managers and service managers in health and social care.
- Team leaders, supervisors and operational managers with workforce responsibilities.
- Managers in charities, voluntary organisations and community services.
- Senior staff supporting organisational change or restructuring exercises.
- HR-linked managers who contribute to consultation or workforce planning.
- People moving into management roles that involve responsibility for staff and service delivery.
No previous specialist knowledge is required.
FAQ
Who is this course suitable for?
This course is designed for managers, team leaders, supervisors and other staff who may contribute to redundancy or restructuring processes in health and social care, charity, voluntary or community-based organisations. It is particularly relevant to people responsible for communicating change, consulting employees, supporting selection processes or managing teams after restructuring.
Do I need any previous experience?
No specialist employment-law knowledge is required. The course introduces the main principles managers need to understand and clearly identifies areas where HR, payroll or specialist employment-law advice should be obtained.
What will I learn on this redundancy and restructuring course?
You will learn how to recognise genuine redundancy situations, consider alternatives to dismissal, contribute to consultation and fair selection, understand key employee entitlements and recognise enhanced protections. The course also covers TUPE-related organisational change, employee communication, workforce support and service continuity.
Will this course help with day-to-day practice?
Yes. The course focuses on the practical responsibilities managers may encounter during organisational change, including communicating proposals, listening to employee concerns, maintaining records, checking evidence, exploring alternatives and knowing when an issue needs to be escalated.
Does the course cover practical skills?
The course develops practical management knowledge rather than teaching a single physical skill. It explains how to approach consultation meetings, selection information, employee questions, alternative employment, communication and post-restructure workforce monitoring in an organised and consistent way.
Does it cover relevant responsibilities or good practice?
Yes. The course covers key responsibilities associated with consultation, fair selection, discrimination risks, redundancy payments, notice, suitable alternative employment and TUPE. It also emphasises the importance of checking current organisational procedures and applicable guidance and obtaining HR or specialist advice where circumstances are complex or disputed.
Does the course cover collective redundancy consultation?
Yes. The course introduces the circumstances in which collective consultation requirements may apply in Great Britain and explains the role of employee or trade union representatives, minimum consultation periods and government notification. Managers are encouraged to involve HR early where larger or multi-site redundancy proposals are being considered.
Does the course explain how TUPE can affect redundancy?
Yes. The course explains when TUPE may be relevant to organisational change and why employees cannot simply be selected for redundancy because a transfer has taken place. It also highlights transfer-related situations in which specialist HR or employment-law advice may be required.
How long does the course take?
The course is self-paced and usually takes around 1 hour to complete.
Will I receive a certificate?
Yes. A certificate is issued after successful completion.
Managing redundancy and restructuring requires managers to balance organisational requirements with fair processes, clear communication and appropriate employee support. This course provides a practical foundation for contributing confidently to organisational change while recognising the limits of the manager’s role and the importance of timely HR or specialist involvement.
Enrol now to build your understanding of managing redundancy and restructuring in health and social care.
