Mrs W Henderson v Represented by Ms A Fox Solicitor Scottish Care Limited — 2026

The tribunal found that Scottish Care dismissed Mrs Wendy Henderson because funding for her Independent Sector Lead role was being withdrawn. Redundancy was the genuine sole reason for dismissal and was potentially fair. The dismissal was nevertheless unfair under section 98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 because Scottish Care gave notice on 20 March 2025 without prior warning or consultation, did not itself pursue the Partnership's invitation to discuss the termination of funding, and did not raise the 2024 email recording funding through 31 March 2026.

The tribunal found that consultation would not have been futile. It could have enabled informed representations to the Partnership, discussion of reduced hours, and consideration of alternative employment. In particular, the claimant should have been consulted about work connected with North Lanarkshire when hours were being reorganised during her notice period. The possible East Ayrshire role was not in fact available, but that position was less clear at the relevant time and should also have been discussed. Considering the process as a whole, the decision to dismiss without consultation fell outside the range of reasonable responses.

For remedy, the tribunal applied the Polkey principle. It allowed four weeks of full net earnings and pension contributions (£2,948.92), assessed a 10% prospect of continued employment in the existing Partnership role (£3,981.04), and assessed a 20% prospect of obtaining a 14-hour North Lanarkshire role (£3,184.81). Those sums totalled £10,114.77, to which the tribunal added £500 for loss of statutory rights. It found that the respondent had not established a failure to mitigate. No basic award was payable because the claimant had already received the appropriate statutory redundancy payment, and the tribunal awarded a compensatory award of £10,614.77.