Protective Awards doubled through the Employment Rights Act

On 6th April 2026, one of the most critical changes brought about by the Employment Rights Act 2025 came into effect. This being a major shift in how workers are protected during large-scale restructuring.

For employees and union members, these changes significantly increase the “cost of failure” for employers who skip the legal consultation process, namely the Protective Award.

What is a Protective Award?

A protective award is compensation awarded by an Employment Tribunal when an employer fails to properly consult with staff regarding 20 or more redundancies. It serves as a penalty for the employer and is available to employees, even if an employer is insolvent.

What is changing?

Previously, the Protective Award was up to 90 days’ gross pay per employee. As of 6th April 2026, this has been doubled to up to 180 days’ gross pay per employee.

This change makes it much more expensive for companies to “fire and rehire” or ignore their legal duty to talk to unions (like Community) when making large scale redundancies. It ensures that the penalty for breaking the law is a genuine deterrent, rather than just a “cost of doing business”.

The ERA also clarifies that the threshold for collective consultation now applies across an entire business, not just a single site or office as some employers would argue that redundancies across different workplaces didn’t count toward the 20 or more threshold.

In addition, the ERA is introducing interim relief for employees who claim they were unfairly selected for redundancy because of their trade union membership. If the claim is successful, the employer must continue to pay the affected employee’s salary until the full tribunal hearing takes place.

What do these changes mean for you?

These changes ensure that if an employer is planning large scale redundancies, they are under much more pressure to do it the right way – by talking to Community. This will encourage meaningful conversations and consultation with Community and our Reps before any redundancies take place, ensuring we can find alternatives to redundancy, and support our members going through the redundancy process.

Furthermore, If the law is broken, any employee selected for redundancy is entitled to significantly higher compensation to bridge the gap while out of work.