main index | back page

SPECIAL REPORT: REDUNDANCY

Redundancy can tap you on the shoulder for any number of reasons, including restructuring, downsizing, sale of the business, your work area is no longer relevant, your skills set is no longer appropriate, and so on.

We all know these things happen but we don't like to think about the possibility of losing our job, not to mention what will happen to our lifestyle if the awful possibility becomes reality.

Although we subscribe to some forms of planning - redundancy cover when taking out a mortgage, or similar cover for other loans and credit card repayments - we don't, as a whole, organise our planning.

Tim Atterton, director of the small business centre at Durham University, compares the UK with the USA, where middle managers in particular seem better prepared.

"Downsizing has been around longer in the US and people prepare for it. They save money as a precaution and develop networks of contacts so that if the axe falls they are ready".

Recruitment policy highlights the other side of the problem, where age is often the unspoken barrier. How easy is it to get another job after 40 or 45?

We can't offer advice, but we can present you with some of the basic questions that need answers to help you plan more effectively. Job security is already a thing of the past, so make sure you put into place some sort of safety net.

Questions you may have on Redundancy

1. Is everyone working for the company entitled to a redundancy payment?

2. Does every employee, then, qualify for a payment?

3. What warning does an employer have to give?

4. How is the payment calculated?

5. So, what will the employee be paid?

6. Is the payment made automatically?

7. Is tax deducted from payments?

8. I'm only five years away from retirement. Would this make any difference to any redundancy?

9. What if I take voluntary redundancy?

10. I suppose I lose all my employee benefits?

11. Can I continue my occupational pension?

12. Will I qualify for any State benefits?

13. I thought mortgage interest was paid separately?

14. What can I do to plan ahead?

	Download the questions above and the answers
	Download the Acrobat Version
	Download the MsWord Version

Other reports

REMEMBER You should not use any information contained on this page as the basis of any action until you have discussed matters with your financial adviser.