Which employees are covered by the consultation duty?

The consultation duty covers any employees directly or indirectly affected by the proposed redundancies, not just those who may be dismissed as redundant. It could extend to employees who will not be dismissed but whose jobs might be affected by the redundancies, for example because of a change in workload. However, protective awards are only payable in respect of employees dismissed for redundancy. A protective award cannot, for example, cover employees who the employer originally planned to dismiss but later decided to retain.

Where a union wins a protective award, only those employees (whether or not union members) inside the bargaining unit for which it has recognition, can benefit from it (T&G v Brauer Coley (In administration) [2007] ICR 226, followed in Harford & Others v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (UKEAT/0313/07).