Is this legal?

[dezst182]

My company have recently sent a letter warning of redundancies. It's pretty much a stick on that it's happening. However, they have said that there will be contracting jobs available If i'm interested. My question is, can the company make me redundant and then contract out the same jobs i would be doing pre-redundancy?

[Lil O'lady]

Probably, yes. The question you have to ask yourself is, who is going to stop them? In organisations that have strong union representation, then the unions will object strongly to such a practice but that does not always prevent it from happening. If you are working for a private firm this is unlikely to be the position.

[factor-fiction]

They can make a business case to contract the work out. But TUPE may apply- they may have to give you a chance to move to the contactor company. We need buildersmate

[buildersmate]

Never far away, Factor.
The simplest way for an employer to achieve this is to hold off for at least 3 months before taking on the contract staff. Since any claim for unfair dismissal by a redundant employee has to be lodged within 3 months of redundancy, it ensures the time-out has occurred, and no claim is possible.
However they shouldn't be talking about contracting the same jobs at this time of declaring redundancies - that's just plain stupid and asking for trouble.
If they are openly saying they are going to outsource the jobs to a contractor (who would manage the employment contracts of the contractors) then, yes, TUPE clearly is going to apply. (This means that the transferred staff move to another company [The contract management one] but initially on the same conditions of employment as they currently enjoy).
One wonders if your employer knows what it is doing.
Small company perhaps? No HR specialist on the payroll?
Are these contract jobs the same as those delivered by you?
Probably time to talk to ACAS about what they are proposing. Or ask more here.