FOI release

FOI 158 - HR1 Data for December by nation of the UK

Updated 17 August 2022

Our ref: FOI 20/21-158

Date: 21 January 2021

Dear,

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your email of 23 December 2020 in which you requested the following from the Insolvency Service:

“I would like to know the number of HR1 Advance Notice of Redundancy forms submitted in the UK in the month of December, for the years 2019 and 2020.

I would also like to know the aggregate number of positions mentioned as at risk of redundancy in those filings in the month of December, for the years 2019 and 2020.

I would also like to request separate totals for England, Scotland and Wales for HR1 forms received and total positions at risk for the month of December.”

Your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested, and the requested information on HR1 forms and potential redundancies is included in the attached annexe.

Please note that employers are only required to file a Form HR1 where they are “proposing” to dismiss 20 or more employees at a single “establishment”.

“Propose” and “establishment” have distinct meanings in this context.

The aggregate number could include proposed dismissals due to insolvency, restructuring of a solvent/continuing business, changes to terms and conditions, proposed relocation of employees etc.

It should also be noted that a proposal to make a given number of dismissals does not necessarily result in all or any of the proposed dismissals occurring.

Please note, as we are providing information broken down by specific countries within the UK, we have had to round the figures. Providing exact figures may prejudice any trading companies included in these figures. This could lead to reputational damage to the company, distress to any affected employees or provide an unfair advantage to any competitors of that business.

If you are not satisfied with the response we have provided you and would like us to reconsider our decision by way of an internal review (IR), please contact our Information Rights Team at [email protected] or by post at:

Information Rights Team

The Insolvency Service

3rd Floor

Cannon House

18 Priory Queensway

Birmingham

B4 6FD

United Kingdom

You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) if you wish for them to investigate any complaint you may have regarding our handling of your request. However, please note that the ICO is likely to expect an IR to have been completed in the first instance.

Kind regards

Redundancy Payments Service

The Insolvency Service

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Official receivers and the Adjudicator are Data Controllers in respect of personal data processed by the Insolvency Service. For the details about how personal data is processed by the agency, please see the full Insolvency Service Personal Information Charter here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/insolvency-service/about/personal-information-charter

Annexe to FOI20/21-158 Table 1: Number of HR1 forms received in England, Scotland and Wales

December 2019 and December 2020

		England	Scotland	Wales	Unknown / Other	Total
2019	December	130	10	*	45	190
2020	December	295	35	15	30	375

Source: Insolvency Service

* Indicates a non-zero number less than 5, suppressed for statistical disclosure control purposes.

1. Numbers greater than 5 have been rounded to the nearest 5 for statistical disclosure control purposes.

2. Aggregates may not sum to totals due to rounding.