How to Complete and Submit the HR1 Redundancy Notification Form

If your business is proposing 20 or more redundancies at one site within a 90-day period, the HR1 redundancy notification form is the advance notice you must send to the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service before any individual dismissal notices go out.¹ The form is submitted only through an online portal; paper copies are no longer accepted.²

When You Have to File

The duty applies when you propose to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within 90 days or less.³ Every employee at risk counts, regardless of department or role. Part-time staff and fixed-term contract employees count too, provided the dismissal is by reason of redundancy.

“Establishment” generally means the specific site where employees are assigned to work, not the whole organisation. A company with offices in Manchester and Birmingham treats each office separately. If a single site’s redundancies stay below 20, that site does not trigger the obligation even if the combined figure across your business is higher.³

How Much Notice You Must Give

The lead time depends on the size of the redundancy exercise:

20 to 99 redundancies: the HR1 must reach the Redundancy Payments Service at least 30 days before the first dismissal takes effect.
100 or more redundancies: at least 45 days before the first dismissal takes effect.

Both periods sit in Section 193(2A) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.³ The clock runs backward from the date the first dismissal is expected to take effect. Alongside that, the form must go in before any individual employee is given notice of termination. Whichever of the two requirements produces the earlier deadline is the one that binds you.¹

This is where employers most often slip. You cannot issue individual redundancy notices and file the HR1 afterward. The form goes first. Work backward from your planned first dismissal date and build in a few days of buffer.

What to Gather Before You Open the Form

Have this ready before you start. Missing pieces will stall the submission or force amendments later:

Your company’s full legal name, registered address, and contact details.
Your employer PAYE reference (the number HMRC uses for payroll, in the format 123/AB45678). Check it matches HMRC’s records, because a mismatch can cause administrative delays while your statutory clock is running.
The address of the establishment where redundancies are proposed and the total number of employees currently working there.
A breakdown of the proposed redundancies by job title or category.
The reasons for the redundancies — for example, site closure, reduced demand, restructuring, or relocation.
The date consultation began with employee representatives, and the names of any recognised trade unions or elected representatives involved.
The expected date of the first dismissal and the date you expect the exercise to be complete.

Submitting Online

The HR1 is completed and filed entirely through an online portal accessed from the GOV.UK publication page for the form. The Insolvency Service does not accept paper.²

Save the confirmation you receive after submitting. That confirmation is your evidence of meeting the statutory deadline if the timing is ever questioned. The Redundancy Payments Service also uses the information to prepare support for affected employees, including handling future claims for statutory redundancy payments.

Send a Copy to Employee Representatives

Filing with the government is only half of the notification duty. You must also send a copy of the completed form to the trade union representatives or elected employee representatives involved in the consultation.¹ That lets them check the information reported to the government against what was discussed with them.

If a trade union is recognised at the workplace, its representatives are the correct recipients. Where no union is recognised, the copy goes to employee representatives elected specifically for the redundancy consultation, or to representatives already in place under an existing information and consultation agreement.⁴

Consultation Runs Alongside

The HR1 notification and the duty to consult employees are separate obligations. Filing the form does not discharge consultation, and consulting does not discharge notification. You need to do both.

Meaningful consultation with appropriate representatives must begin before any individual redundancy notice is issued, and it must cover ways to avoid the redundancies, ways to reduce the numbers, and ways to lessen the impact on those affected.⁵ The minimum consultation periods mirror the notification deadlines: 30 days for 20 to 99 redundancies, and 45 days for 100 or more.³ If no representatives are already in place, you will need to organise a fair election before consultation can start, and that setup time eats into your overall timeline.⁴

What Happens If You Get It Wrong

Failing to submit the HR1 within the required timeframe without good cause is a criminal offence. On summary conviction, the employer faces an unlimited fine, and directors, company secretaries, managers, and similar officers can be prosecuted personally where the failure occurred with their consent or was attributable to their neglect.² The “without good cause” defence is read narrowly; a busy HR team or a delayed internal timeline is unlikely to qualify.

Failing to consult properly is dealt with separately. An employment tribunal can impose a protective award, and from 6 April 2026 the maximum rises to 180 days’ full pay for each affected employee, doubled from the previous cap of 90 days’ pay.⁶ The two penalties operate independently, so a single redundancy exercise done badly can produce both a criminal fine and protective awards.

Northern Ireland Has Different Rules

The HR1 form is used in Northern Ireland too, but the deadlines and destination differ. For 20 to 99 proposed redundancies, the 30-day period matches Great Britain. For 100 or more, Northern Ireland requires at least 90 days’ notice, roughly double the 45-day period that applies in England, Scotland, and Wales.⁷ Northern Ireland submissions go to the Department for the Economy via the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, not the Insolvency Service.⁸ If you have sites on both sides of the Irish Sea, each follows the rules of its own jurisdiction.

1
GOV.UK. Advance Notification of Redundancies: Guidance for Employers
2
GOV.UK. Redundancy Payments: HR1 Form – Advance Notification of Redundancies
3
Legislation.gov.uk. Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 – Part IV, Chapter II
4
Acas. How to Hold Collective Consultation
5
Acas. When You Must Consult – Collective Consultation for Redundancy
6
Acas. If an Employer Does Not Collectively Consult
7
nibusinessinfo.co.uk. The Redundancy Consultation Process
8
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Advance Notification of Redundancies