FOI release

FOI 135: HR1 data Aug-Oct 2019/2020

Updated 15 February 2021

By email

Our ref: FOI20/21-135

Date: 24 November 2020

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your email of 18 November 2020 in which you requested the following from the Insolvency Service:

“Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to know:

  • The number of HR1 Advance Notice of Redundancy forms submitted in the UK
  • The aggregate number of positions mentioned as at risk of redundancy in those filings

I would like an update on the numbers already provided for October 2020.”

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 table below.

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 that the figures below may differ from those previously provided. Occasionally some HR1 forms contain errors and are rejected (employer has resubmitted another form, or the form contained less than 20 proposed redundancies and so there was no requirement to notify). As a result, a small number of HR1s each month are reclassified as 'inactive' and are no longer included in figures. For this reason, we have also provided revised figures for August in the below table, in addition to those requested for September and October.

# 2019 HR1 forms received 2019 Number of potential dismissals 2020 HR1 forms received 2020 Number of potential dismissals
August 213 22,581 957 57,749
September 298 26,575 1,723 81,670
October 339 23,798 842 51,195

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), pleasecontact 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 in regards to 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

Kiera Bain

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