September 2023: consultation with colleagues affected
Mersey Care have a duty to consult with trade union representatives under section 188: Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (legislation.gov.uk) to collectively consult with colleagues affected by this process.
The Trust’s principal aim is that everyone affected by the retraction process agrees to move to Aspen Wood. However, if not everyone agrees, the Trust may need to terminate the contracts of some staff who have not agreed. Whilst those individuals will all be differed jobs at Aspen Wood, technically the reason for any dismissals would be redundancy. This is where section 188 comes in.
The Trust will commence collective consultation for a minimum of 45 days from 12 September 2023.
The trust is committed to mitigating any risk of redundancy and will consult with trade union representatives on ways to:
- avoid any redundancies, and
- reduce the numbers of employees who may be dismissed.
The principal way in which we will seek to do this is by encouraging colleagues to agree to move to Maghull.
We recognise that this is a difficult process for those affected and as such, we have developed a support package for colleagues, further information is provided within this document and is also available on the micro site Whalley retraction page.
We will be inviting staff side colleagues to engage positively with us in the collective consultation process and to make suggestions themselves for any other ways in which we can seek to secure the agreement of staff to move to Aspen Wood, and thus avoid the risk of dismissals, or reduce the number of dismissals.
An indicative timeline has been developed outlining the process ahead and envisaged next steps from 12 September 2023.
For any queries or further information email: whalley