M R Doust v Whitgift Foundation - Whitgift — 2019

Mr Doust brought a claim of unfair dismissal arising from the termination of his role as Junior ICT Technician at Whitgift School. The tribunal recorded that he had worked for the School since 2003 and that, following a wider ICT restructuring and overhaul of the School's infrastructure, his role was dismissed with effect from 19 January 2018. The respondent's case was that the dismissal was by reason of redundancy, with the former technician roles replaced by two new posts, Desktop Support Engineer and Senior Desktop Support Engineer.

The tribunal found that the respondent had a genuine redundancy situation within section 139 Employment Rights Act 1996 because the requirements of the business for employees to carry out the old work had ceased or diminished. It accepted the evidence that the School had reviewed its ICT infrastructure, identified the need for different skills, and created the new roles to support the revised systems. The tribunal also found that consultation with the claimant was adequate, that the redundancy policy was followed, and that the claimant was accompanied at meetings by his trade union representative.

The claimant was given the opportunity to apply for the new posts and was offered online SCCM training and an Azure AD course, but he did not use the online training. He failed both technical skills assessments, scoring 17/33 and 3/15, and so did not proceed to interview. The tribunal also found that the respondent considered alternative employment across the School and the wider Whitgift Foundation and that no suitable vacancies were identified. Applying section 98(4) ERA 1996 and the redundancy dismissal principles in Williams v Compair Maxam Ltd and the other authorities cited, the tribunal held that the dismissal was procedurally and substantively fair and dismissed the claim.