Thank you for contacting me about the announcement of redundancies by British Airways (BA).
Businesses in the aviation and travel sectors have been significantly affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. I very much sympathise with anyone who is facing redundancy during the pandemic. Redundancy is never an easy process to go through, and it is important that those who have been made redundant are aware of their rights.
I want to reassure you that I have raised this matter with Ministerial colleagues to make sure they are aware of the concerns of BA employees. During this difficult time, it is only right that employers should act responsibly and therefore only use the Job Retention Scheme to protect jobs. I understand that the Government is urging employers not to use the Job Retention Scheme to make someone redundant on less favourable terms than they would otherwise have received. Should any employees feel that their employment rights have been breached they should seek independent legal advice from an employment law specialist - or their union should they have one.
Throughout this crisis, both the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have been in open dialogue with UK airlines, including BA. These have been through structured and bilateral discussions, at Ministerial and official levels.
The Transport committee in the House of Commons has also published a report on this matter and I know that ministers will consider its report very carefully. I will continue to monitor the situation very closely.
