Number of redundancies contemplated: one. Number of employees in the selection pool: one.
It's always a tricky situation. Historically, it's been difficult for employees to challenge the employer's decision not to place others in the pool where the employer has genuinely addressed its mind to the problem. But in this case, the employee successfully argued that the pool into which she alone was placed should have included others. Ms Byard was one of four actuaries employed by Capita. When the Scheme Actuary work (mostly carried out by Ms Byard) was lost, Capita decided that it would declare her role redundant, rather than pool her job with the remaining actuaries. Capita said that because of the personal nature of an actuary's work, clients would not want to move to a new actuary. Ms Byard was made redundant and brought an unfair dismissal claim.
The decision not to pool Ms Byard with the other actuaries was unfair, said the tribunal. There were other employees who could have been included in the pool, and being in a pool of one while at risk of redundancy devalued the redundancy consultation process.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld this decision. While it's for the employer to determine the pool, the tribunal was entitled to hold that the employer's decision here was flawed.
So some hope then for employees in Ms Byard's situation. For employers, a reminder to tread carefully.
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