Consultation records and recruitment decisions needed separate ownership

The higher maximum protective award

A protective award is connected with a failure to meet collective consultation requirements. The increased maximum was not an automatic payment of 180 days in every redundancy exercise, and it was not the same as statutory redundancy pay. Tribunal decisions depended on the case and the relevant legal framework.

Employers considering collective redundancy needed specialist advice about when the duties arose and how to meet them. The April award change should also be distinguished from other proposed or later reforms to redundancy thresholds. A historical announcement about one measure does not establish that all related changes commenced together.

Keep recruitment inside the authorised process

During a restructuring, a recruitment team may receive replacement requests, internal vacancy information and questions from candidates. Those tasks should not proceed on assumptions that conflict with an employer’s consultation or redeployment review. A normal approval to advertise may need an additional HR checkpoint in the circumstances.

The evidence also needs separation. A consultant’s note about a vacancy is not a complete consultation record. The employer should define where formal records belong, who can access them and what instructions recruitment staff may act on. Unclear boundaries can cause sensitive material to circulate beyond the people responsible for the process.

When a role's status changes, the recruitment register should record who authorised the change and which teams received the instruction.

Organise the records without taking over the decision

Key Med Solutions can help maintain a client-approved vacancy register, pause recruitment where instructed and organise factual updates for the employer’s review. It can also track outstanding information requests and document versions within an agreed remit. The employer and its advisers must make consultation, selection and legal decisions.

A practical handover identifies which roles are open, paused or awaiting HR approval and gives each status a responsible contact. If a client changes an instruction, the sourcing and interview teams should receive the same authorised version. That coordination supports the process without suggesting that an administrator can validate its legal adequacy.

The April 2026 lesson is to make recruitment information useful without confusing it with consultation authority. Key Med can provide recordkeeping and coordination, while the employer retains responsibility for employment decisions and qualified advisers assess the duties and risks of a particular redundancy proposal.