Other jobs your employer should offer you

This advice applies to Scotland. See advice for See advice for England, See advice for Northern Ireland, See advice for Wales

Your employer has to try to find you another job with them if either:

you’re on maternity leave or shared parental leave when they make you redundant
you’ll have been working for them for at least 2 years by the time your job ends

Finding another job for you is called looking for ‘suitable alternative employment’.

Your employer should discuss alternative jobs with you when they meet you individually to discuss redundancy.

An alternative job can start up to 4 weeks after the end of your current job.

You don’t have to accept an alternative job with your employer if it isn’t suitable for you. Check your options if your employer offers you another job.

Other jobs your employer should consider

An alternative job doesn’t have to be exactly like your current job. Your employer should also consider jobs:

in other locations
with different pay
with different duties
at other companies they own

You should get a chance to apply for an alternative job even if it doesn’t match your experience.

Your employer should always talk to you before assuming you won’t want an alternative job. For example, if a job is at a different office, pays less, or involves different work they should still talk to you to see if you’re interested.

You have a right to spend 4 weeks trying an alternative job to decide if you like it.

Applying for an alternative job

Your employer might offer people alternative jobs without anyone having to apply for them. Check that you’ve been fairly chosen if other people are offered alternative jobs and you’re made redundant.

Instead of giving people alternative jobs automatically, your employer might ask everyone at risk of redundancy to apply for alternative jobs. You should be allowed to apply even if the alternative job isn’t exactly the same as the one you’ve been doing.

If you apply but your employer still makes you redundant you can challenge your redundancy if:

your employer discriminated against you - check if it was discrimination
you're pregnant
you were on maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave
your employer didn’t tell you what they would base the decision on - for example if it depends on an interview or your previous work

You might also be able to challenge your redundancy if you recently returned to work from maternity, shared parental or adoption leave.

You can check how to challenge your redundancy.

If you aren’t offered another job

Ask your employer for an explanation if you think they have alternative jobs but you aren’t offered any by the time your current job ends. It isn’t enough if they offer you an alternative job after your current job ends.

If your employer doesn’t have a good reason for not offering you an alternative job you might have been unfairly dismissed. Contact your nearest Citizens Advice straight away, as you might be able to challenge your redundancy.

Common issues

If you’re pregnant or on maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave

Your employer must offer you another job if they have one suitable for you. They shouldn’t make you apply or compete against other employees.

Your employer can ask you for information to check the job is suitable for you. They can't ask you to come to an interview to see who's best for the job - you should be picked automatically.

It’s automatically unfair dismissal if your employer has a job that’s suitable for you but they don’t offer it to you. It might be maternity discrimination as well. Check how to challenge your redundancy.

If you’re a father you get this right if you’re on shared parental leave, but not if you’re on paternity leave.

If your maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave ended after 6 April 2024

You’ll usually continue to get this right for a period of time after you return to work. This means your employer must offer you other available work if you’re made redundant.

If you took maternity leave or at least 6 weeks of shared parental leave, you’ll be protected for 18 months. This will usually start on your child’s birth date. If you didn’t tell your employer your child’s birth date before your leave ended, the 18 months will start on your child’s due date.

If you took adoption leave, you’ll be protected for 18 months after either:

the date of your child’s adoption placement - for an in-country adoption
the date your child entered Great Britain - for an overseas adoption

If your employer offers you a job that pays less

Offering you a lower paying job could be unfair if your employer has alternative jobs that would have been more suitable for you. Find out what other jobs were available and ask why you weren’t considered for them.

You might be able to challenge your redundancy if your employer doesn’t have a good reason for not offering you the other job.

If the lower-paying alternative job is the only one available, check your options if your employer offers you another job.

If you’re thinking of accepting a job that pays less, it could be worth asking your employer if they can offer any salary protection. This would mean your pay wouldn’t drop straight away, but would fall over time.

If you don’t find out about other jobs in time to apply

Your employer has to make sure you’re aware of any alternative jobs you could apply for. For example, if you’re sick or on holiday your redundancy could be unfair if your employer only lists alternative jobs on a noticeboard at work.

It could be unfair dismissal if there were alternative jobs you could have applied for but you didn’t know about them. It could also be discrimination, for example if you were off sick for a reason connected to a disability.

Contact your nearest Citizens Advice straight away, as you might be able to challenge your redundancy.

Next steps

Check other reasons your redundancy might be unfair.

Whether or not your redundancy is fair, it’s worth preparing for after redundancy to make sure you get all your pay and rights.