What's happened? Scotland's financial services employees are no longer challenging redundancy decisions

Last year, Scottish financial services professionals had some fire in their belly. Faced with the prospect of redundancy in a tough job market, litigation around unfair dismissal soared. Now, however, the number of cases is on the slide. So, what's changed?

The financial services job market is certainly healthier, meaning that if you do find yourself on the receiving end of a redundancy announcement, your chances of securing alternative employment are better.

"Some of the new entrants to the banking sector in Scotland have ensured that the overall number of Scottish financial sector jobs has remained more robust than the redundancy figures might suggest. When people have other options available to them, they're less likely to litigate," says Tony Hadden, partner in the employment practice at Brodies in Edinburgh.

The question is, though, whether this can continue. Lloyds Banking Group revealed last month that it was to cut a massive 15,000 jobs, which is likely to hit Scotland. Around 200 jobs have already been targeted north of the border in cuts unveiled in August.

RBS has so-far limited its latest redundancy announcements to its investment bank, but escalating concerns over the eurozone debt crisis and potential ring-fencing of its retail operations could weigh heavily on profitability in the future.

So, assuming the job market does take a turn for the worse, you're singled out for redundancy and decide to make a legal challenge, do you have much chance of success?

"Increasingly, litigation cases around redundancy against banks are unsuccessful," says Hadden. "Over the last three years, the redundancy processes of Scotland's largest banks have become sophisticated and well-practiced, and areas for challenge are limited as a result."

Interestingly, one reason for unfair dismissal that is still being rolled out is that an employee hasn't made a staff member aware of an alternative job within the organisation.

Lloyds, in particular, has been instrumental in minimising the number of people leaving the organisation by offering redeployment opportunities.

There is, however, a political element to all this. Scotland's banks have been accused in the past of devolving more power south of the border.

From a legal perspective, if an employer offers another job in an alternative location, but the employee doesn't wish to relocate, it's fulfilled its obligation to make you aware of other opportunities. Ultimately, though, the "commercial rationale" of where to base a particular role still lies with the company, and staff members have little power to contest it.