Mr G Quinlan v Millbrook Healthcare Ltd — 2025

The claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy after the respondent undertook a headcount reduction exercise. The tribunal accepted that the respondent had serious financial difficulties and that redundancy was the reason relied on, but considered whether the respondent acted reasonably in treating redundancy as sufficient reason for dismissal.

The tribunal found that the dismissal was unfair because the respondent failed to take reasonable positive steps to consider the claimant for a Project Manager vacancy that arose during his notice period. The claimant discovered and applied for the vacancy himself, and the tribunal found that a reasonable employer would have brought it to his attention and properly considered him for it.

On Polkey, the tribunal did not find that the claimant would necessarily have been appointed to the Project Manager role. It found that he would have been shortlisted and interviewed if a fair process had been followed, assessed his chance of appointment at 20%, and stated that the compensatory award should be reduced by 80%.