Replacing direct employees with other workers

Replacing direct employees with workers who are not employees (for example, agency workers) is likely to create a redundancy situation, even if they are doing exactly the same job. This is because there is no longer a need for “employees” to do the work of a particular kind. In Bromby and Hoare Ltd v Evans and anor 1972 ICR 113, two decorators employed as employees were replaced with independent contractors and this was a redundancy. Another example was the dismissal of employees and their replacement with franchisees in Meter U Limited v Ackroyd [2012] UKEAT/0207/11.