Redundancy

A. If you leave after your employer has announced that it will be making redundancies but before you have been given notice of your own dismissal for redundancy, you will have no legal right to a redundancy payment (Secretary of State for Employment v Greenfield EAT/147/89).

The general rule is that redundancy notice has only been given if the employee has been given a termination date. Nevertheless, your employer may be keen to accept voluntary redundancies to avoid making compulsory redundancies.

Speak to your rep to see whether it may be possible to negotiate terms for voluntary redundancy. You may not be the only person in this position.

Take care, though, to make sure that in any communications with your employer, you do not suggest that you are giving notice to leave voluntarily, losing your right to claim a redundancy payment. Keep a careful record.