Left at risk of redundancy

After a recent takeover last year we underwent collective consultation and stated that staff would need to re-apply for new roles in the new organisation. All staff were place at risk in November 2009.

We told staff that if unsuccessful we would make them redundant. If successful we would present them with a new contract to sign.

We also stated that if successful and they refuse the new contract it would be deemed that they had resigned unless the reason for not siging was a material change in the terms and conditions in which case they would be made redundant if no compromise was found.

Having nearly handed out all contracts to those who are successful, we have a handful of staff who refused the contracts due to a change in increased notice period, a change that has been insisted by the new parent company and we just cannot compromise on.

Even though we confirmed that this is a material difference, can we just leave this handful of staff on their existing contracts and not make them redundant or is their a limit as to how long we can leave them at risk.