Husband facing redundancy - need advice

sweetdaisy

Hi

My Husband is facing redundancy around August - November 2012. He has been working for his employers for 7 years and is expected to get arround £10,000 redundancy money.

He has escaped redundancy around 4 times in the past 2 years however next year his employers are moving all production to Hungary and China, so everyone is losing their job . Luckily he is having quite a lot of notice so we need to plan what we are going to do.

Just after some opinions from those facing redundancy and/those who have been made redundant and what you would do in our situation?

A bit of background - in June this year DH completed his level 2 City and Guilds in Electrical Engineering in the hope of becoming an electrician/electrician's mate. He needs to complete the Level 3 course to be qualified but our local college didn't run the course this September, so he needs to apply for the course at another college next September.

DH said it may be best to stay in his job until he is made redundant and we can use his redundancy money as a salary for 8 months until we would need to dip into savings. Hopefully in this time he could get some electrical agency work to gain experience as he needs this as he currently works in a factory.

I work full time also and we need both of our incomes as we have two young children, however I think it may be better to try and get any job before he is made redundant as I think it is better to have a job than to have no job, as we can't make do just on my wage. But, DH doesn't want to miss out on redundancy money.

Just wondering if you think it's best to wait for redundancy or would you be trying now for a new job?

Any advice is welcome .

getmore4less

The first thing to do is start the cutbacks and get as much funds into that offset account as possible. Preservation of cash is king(benifits limits need to be considered).

The other thing is can he make more money at the company by offering to do extra like helping with the transition training etc. The jobs gone so trying to make the best of what is left.

Will they support any training opportunities, maybe with time off

Any competitors still in the UK. Suppliers and customers are another angle.
what sort of work does he do, there may be transferable skills he has not though about.

HAve a look at your own position anything you can do there

sweetdaisy

getmore4less wrote: »

The first thing to do is start the cutbacks and get as much funds into that offset account as possible. Preservation of cash is king(benifits limits need to be considered).

The other thing is can he make more money at the company by offering to do extra like helping with the transition training etc. The jobs gone so trying to make the best of what is left.

Will they support any training opportunities, maybe with time off

Any competitors still in the UK. Suppliers and customers are another angle.
what sort of work does he do, there may be transferable skills he has not though about.

HAve a look at your own position anything you can do there

I am a MSE addict and quite good with sorting out all the finances, so there aren't any further cutbacks that we can make.

I am overpaying on the mortgage by £59 a month, but we can get all overpayments paid back if need be. I am trying to save as much as possible as it's also used to offset against the mortgage.

DH has attended a training course in work because he is being made redundant, but they won't support any other training opportunities. He works in a factory as a production operative but there are no jobs around. This is why he started doing the electrical course a few years ago as something to fall back on.

In terms of my position, I am on a good wage but currently on Maternity Leave until April 2012, so am on SMP at present (but we did save for us to have our 2nd child).

I am unable to change my position and I do lots of surveys/reviews etc to earn more money which I use towards Christmas/Birthday presents etc.

I suppose it's just a gamble: does he hold out for redundancy or tries for a job now? I don't want to use up all his redundancy money for 8 months and dip into savings as it is being used to offset against the mortgage. I would also rather him have a job, but if he does wait until he gets made redundant it will give him about 8 months to sign up with electrical agencies to gain experience with the aim of securing employment.

ellieellieellie

Don't wait until redundancy to start looking! It's difficult for anybody to find a job at the moment, you're not able to say for certain that he'll find a new job before his redundancy money runs out, whatever his qualifications and experience.

I'm coming to the end of a fixed term contract, and I've been continually looking for work, even when the end of my contract seemed like it was a long way away. As I've got nearer to the end of the contract, I've been more flexible when jobsearching in terms of pay and the distance I'm willing to travel, and your hubby may find it helpful to do the same. If he finds a suitable position close to home and with great pay tomorrow, he'd be foolish to ignore it and wait for redundancy, but equally, he has got time on his side and can afford to look for the right job. And don't forget to take into account that there may be a considerable gap between being offered a new job and the first payday.

I realise that my situation is not the same, I'm not going to get any redundancy money, but I think this advice still applies.

Edit: Also, is it possible for him to get experience with an electrical agency while he's still working with his current employer?

sweetdaisy

ellieellieellie wrote: »

Don't wait until redundancy to start looking! It's difficult for anybody to find a job at the moment, you're not able to say for certain that he'll find a new job before his redundancy money runs out, whatever his qualifications and experience.

I'm coming to the end of a fixed term contract, and I've been continually looking for work, even when the end of my contract seemed like it was a long way away. As I've got nearer to the end of the contract, I've been more flexible when jobsearching in terms of pay and the distance I'm willing to travel, and your hubby may find it helpful to do the same. If he finds a suitable position close to home and with great pay tomorrow, he'd be foolish to ignore it and wait for redundancy, but equally, he has got time on his side and can afford to look for the right job. And don't forget to take into account that there may be a considerable gap between being offered a new job and the first payday.

I realise that my situation is not the same, I'm not going to get any redundancy money, but I think this advice still applies.

Edit: Also, is it possible for him to get experience with an electrical agency while he's still working with his current employer?

Thanks Ellie. He is going to start asking local electrical companies to see if he can do some for them for free, to gain experience, in the hope that they would be able to offer a reference.

On the other hand, DH said that he wants to wait for redundancy but would take any job that comes up and accepts that it is not likely to be as an electrician's mate but he is willing to do any type of work.

sooty&sweep

Hi

To be honest £10k shouldn't be ignored so personally I wouldn't jump into any job just to have a job and then lose the redundancy money if that makes sense.

The ideal would be to have a job lined up to start just after he's made redundant.

Next year when the company moves it will be compulsory redundancy but are they offering voluntary redundancy as well ? If so he may be able to take up another job and also get some redundancy money as well.

Good Luck

Jen

sweetdaisy

sooty&sweep wrote: »

Hi

To be honest £10k shouldn't be ignored so personally I wouldn't jump into any job just to have a job and then lose the redundancy money if that makes sense.

The ideal would be to have a job lined up to start just after he's made redundant.

Next year when the company moves it will be compulsory redundancy but are they offering voluntary redundancy as well ? If so he may be able to take up another job and also get some redundancy money as well.

Good Luck

Jen

Thanks Jen

DH feels that £10,000 is too much to lose and I do agree with him however the way that I see it is that it is not our money until it is in the bank, if you see what I mean?

I would be great to have the redundancy money and then him get a job quite quickly but we are realistic in that that's probably not going to happen.

We will know about Voluntary Redundancy closer to the time, so will have to consider this when/if it is offered, as there will be a lot of competition from all the other satff when they all lose their jobs at the same time and there's not much work around.

yellowmug

ellieellieellie wrote: »

I realise that my situation is not the same, I'm not going to get any redundancy money, but I think this advice still applies.

You might well be entitled to redundancy money, see the directgov site on fixed-term workers (as a newbie, it won't let me post the link)

A lot of people don't know that an employer failing to renew a fixed-term contract constitutes a dismissal, and if your employer hasn't dismissed you for a proper reason you can claim unfair dismissal and/or redundancy.

katy2

No advice to offer, but completely understand your dilemma as we are in the same boat. OH and I both getting made redundant in August ( we work for same employer). OH is due 10K and I 4K. My OH also feels he doesn't want to pass up on the redundancy money and is planning to stick it out until the end, although obvioulsy keep ears open now and actively looking for work in last 3 months. I will jump before if right opportunity comes along, as money coming in after August will be better than none. What we need is a crystal ball.

Best of luck, completely empathise with the turmoil and uncertainty ahead.

ellieellieellie

yellowmug wrote: »

You might well be entitled to redundancy money, see the directgov site on fixed-term workers (as a newbie, it won't let me post the link)

A lot of people don't know that an employer failing to renew a fixed-term contract constitutes a dismissal, and if your employer hasn't dismissed you for a proper reason you can claim unfair dismissal and/or redundancy.

I had a look, but, as I thought, I've not been employed for long enough.