With many businesses looking to embark on redundancy exercises in the coming months this change to filing an HR1 should not be overlooked.
Where an employer is proposing to make 20 or more employees redundant within a 90-day period at a single site/establishment, it must notify the Redundancy Payments Service through a form HR1. This form has recently been updated and is about to go exclusively digital.
Read on to find out more about the critical updates.
Where 20 or more employees are proposed to be made redundant, within a 90-day period at a single site/establishment it is crucial that employers submit a form HR1 to the Redundancy Payments Service within the statutory timeframes which are:
Failure to comply with this obligation can undermine the entire consultation process, lead to unlimited fines, and even criminal prosecution. It is therefore critical that employers are au fait with any updates to this key part of a collective redundancy process.
Crucially, from 30 November 2025 employers will only be able to submit the form digitally. The changes to the digital form are as follows:
Notably, there is no option to export the form before submission meaning there is no option to share it internally, or with your advisor, for review or comment. It must be submitted in real time and leaving the relevant GOV.UK page for more than 90 minutes will require starting the entire form again. You must therefore ensure you have the necessary information to hand before you begin completing the digital form and following submission, download and save a copy of the completed form so you can check for any errors and amend/submit a new form as necessary.
It is always recommended that employers obtain legal advice for redundancy situations, particularly collective redundancy as the risks for non-compliance can be considerable. Your legal advisor can advise you throughout the process.
Lilika Peutherer comments:
Collective redundancies are not the most straight forward of exercises. If in doubt of your obligations as an employer it is best that you speak to us in advance to avoid both a potential fine and also claims for compensation.
If you have any questions on any of the upcoming changes, please contact a member of the team here.
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