The King’s former household at Clarence House is being criticised in the press this morning following the announcement yesterday that it was commencing consultation around potential redundancies. With Charles III now taking over the team at Buckingham Palace and Prince William already having staff in place, the requirement for the household at Clarence House has obviously diminished unfortunately leaving staff fearing for their jobs. However, to have their fears confirmed during this period of national mourning so soon after the death of the Queen has been criticised as somewhat heartless given that the Clarence House staff are all actively working on the arrangements of Operation London Bridge.
Clarence House has argued that following legal advice it has no option but to commence the consultation process for potential redundancies as the legal requirement to consult arises once an employer is ‘contemplating’ making redundancies.
The requirement to consult staff about redundancies arises once the business is ‘proposing to dismiss’ employees as redundant. The consultation must take place ‘in good time’ to allow for full and meaningful consultation. Although the facts of each case will determine the trigger point for consultation, consultation must start ‘once a strategic or commercial decision compelling the business to contemplate or a plan for collective redundancies has been taken’.
It is easy to see that that threshold was automatically reached upon the death of the Queen and Clarence House are therefore probably right that consultation should start sooner rather than later. However it is also possible to understand the point that it could just as easily have waited until after the Queen’s funeral next week. Either way though, it doesn’t unfortunately help the staff at risk whether it happens before or afterwards as they still face the same difficult situation. Hopefully however, it will be possible for many of the staff to take up new positions either at Buckingham Palace, in the Prince of Wales’ household or in one of the other royal households.
If you have any questions about this article or are faced with potentially having to make redundancies within your business please contact our Employment Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.