Redundancy before/after Liquidation

I run a small consultancy; there were some good years but business has fallen away and given my age I'm likely to give it another year, then either Liquidate the company or take it home for one more year, but there is not really enough work now for more than one person, let alone if the small amount of business we do have is not retained. It is unlikely we will get any new contracts.

I have a colleague that has worked with me/for me for a long time and although the business can no longer afford him I would like to do the right thing which in my mind would be to pay out at least the statutory minimum redundancy, while the company still has any money. This has been discussed and it was not unexpected.

To be honest I would prefer to do this now while we still have the funds (courtesy of the good years) and to allow me to run down the company in the next year or two without feeling guilty or with big liabilities at the end.

The thing is, if I don't take on his responsibilities, I could find a small amount of work that I could offer him subsequent to redundancy and we could both work when needed. This work wouldn't be guaranteed, so I guess I could either offer him a New contract of Employment (zero or variable hours) or, if he wants to set up as Self Employed then we could work out something that way. He's in his sixties and I don't know whether he will seek other (full) employment but possibly not.

This to me seems a better option than retaining current employment, cutting his hours, then paying redundancy down the line, when I might not be able to afford it. I'm not even sure how changing his contract of employment and cutting his hours would affect his future redundancy entitlements

I guess I am not sure whether I am allowed to make him redundant and then perhaps after a short gap reemploy him or give him some work as self employed.

Is there a right way to do this?

Thanks