The Great 'What to do in the event of redundancy' Hunt

My problem isn't quite redundancy, but similar and will apply to many local authority workers. I was a social worker for years but have a condition that means I am loosing control of my hands and feet, (strange but true, it's on https://www.cmt.org) I felt really vulnerable, some clients can be violent and local authorities just push you to work so hard you get exhausted. So at the end of an exhaustion phase I took early retirement on health grounds at the age of 42 to write articles from home. Lots of people retire early through stress. Anyway, five years on the article work is drying up, i get benefits and want to earn more than those to keep me independant, I've been offered a little work in fostering and adoption and because voice activated software is now so advanced it's just possible that for a short while I could earn enough to be independant of benefits.
But here's the rub, I can't. There is a rule governing people in my position that they can't earn more than their last post working for another local authority once they've retired on health grounds. My last job was only 12 hours a week but I supplemented that by working in the emergency duty team 25 hours a week, but because that was only sessional work, despite that it ran for 2 years,) that doesn't count. For every hour that I work over 12 hours a week at the same rate of pay as my last job, each pound is deducted from my pension.
Even crazier, if I went to work for an agency, or a charity, anywhere that is not a local authority, I can earn as much as I like.
They say it's to stop people getting big pensions then the next day getting another local authority job and earning twice, but in my case (and others I've heard of) there's no way I can take advantage of improved technology to get myself off benefits.
Martin, yours is a brilliant site and I think you're fab on telly and radio too!
So I can't work for a local authority more than 12 hrs weekly, which isn't enough to take me off benefits.

Make your last day of service a Sunday or Bank Holiday so you get paid for it without having to turn up for work and ask for pay in lieu of notice.

If at all possible, agree a redundancy date early on in the tax year so you have the full personal allowance to offset your settlement.

If you are in a pension scheme, make sure you contribute the maximum if your settlement exceeds the £30k tax free limit. You will get tax relief on the pension contributions.

If you are in a final salary pension scheme and you have to pay tax on some of your settlement, ask your employer to pay some of your settlement as a salary enhancement (special responsibility allowance or whatever you can agree on). You still pay tax on it but it boosts your final salary and therefore your pension when you come to draw it. If you are on an incremental pay scale, ask to be put at the top effective from 1 April with the cost being part of your settlement.

If you have a company car that your employer leases, ask to keep it until the end of the lease term. Your employer will likely face early termination penalties so may be happy enough to let it run on. Also ask for the laptop and mobile phone.

Get a written reference before you leave.

Finally, don’t underestimate the strength of your position – your employer probably isn’t enjoying this any more than you are so make the most of their discomfort.

At times like this it's great to hear other peoples stories, what they've been through, what they are going through, how they've coped and what the final outcome was. My redundancy situation has been dragging on for nearly fifteen months!!! -- Can you believe that?

My manager was put at risk of redundancy in the early part of last year and finally left on July 4th 2005. The following day -- July 5th -- I was served my at risk of redundancy notice also. The best thing about it was, that day all the managers had been coming and going out of the directors office all day -- annual cost of living pay review -- so I thought nothing of it when I was called into the office. He said nothing to me but just slid a letter across the table in my direction. The way the letter was written -- well put it this way, I expected to have the conversation first and then to be given the letter later on in the day as confirmation of the earlier conversation, but no, just the letter and me having to read it for myself.

Of course the first thing I did was to question the timing of the letter -- why now? Why the day after my manager was made redundant? But all he could say was that they tried to hold out as long as they could but that this was now the situation! The thing was that had I come back from a secondment at another depot and had been back for four months without hardly doing a thing, so I guess it should not have been a surprise really. What was surprising, however, was the length of time that events eventually took to unfold -- asking the question each week about what was happening and never getting an answer. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months -- so much so that in the end I had to visit the quack as I wasn't eating, I couldn't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time, I was getting chest pains -- I think you get the picture. Now having never had a day sick since I had started with the company -- now fifteen years ago -- it came as a great surprise when the doc said that he was going to sign me off for eight weeks!!! He said that something needed to be taken out of the stress equation or else I would just make things worse -- so that something was me!!!

To be honest it was the best thing that I could have done -- I took his advice and chilled out. I finally returned to work in February -- no sooner was I in the door when I was called to a meeting to be told that my role no longer existed and as such I would be put on redundancy notice starting with the thirty day consultation period. So I went home.

I was soon called back to help out on another contract and when that finished I was called back at the of April to be told that they would be letting me go and that they would pay me my redundancy and my lieu of notice (three months). Of course I asked how much this would be based upon my fifteen years with the company only to be told that I would be getting statutory!!! This was a complete surprise to me as my contract was based on an enhanced redundancy package. When I mentioned this I was told that there was nothing on my file regarding any enhanced security of employment document -- funny that!!! So I produced the relevant copies. I wish I had a camera at that moment as you could physically see the blood drain from their faces!!!

I must point out that during the whole process I had my union rep with me. I wont give details here (you can e-mail me for details if you so wish) but I have been a member for 6 years and pay a yearly fee for this service -- it has been worth every penny and would I highly recommend doing this for anyone in or soon to be in a similar redundancy situation as this. I then put it to them that rather than letting me go, why not put me on garden leave for the three months. All though I might not be required to work I could still be available should the need arise and I would still get paid and I could be looking for a new job at the same time. This they agreed to do.

Halfway through my garden leave I received a phone call to go and work on another contract. Whilst I was there I applied for a job, had the interview and eventually go the job. My garden leave finished on 21st July but the new job didn't officially start until 31st July so they treated it like a secondment until I started the new role. My previous role had a company car attached but I was told that I would have to give this up, as the new role had no such requirement. Things went from bad to worse when I received the offer letter and terms and conditions documents in the post. The redundancy section clearly stated
that in any event I would only ever be entitled to statutory. This I questioned straight away and was told that they would not accept my enhanced package, as they could not take on that sort of liability.

I questioned this with my union rep that basically told me that they were within their rights to do this. He did ask me what was said about terms and conditions at the interview. The thing is, nothing was said to me and I never asked as I just assumed, whether rightly or wrongly that as I would be working for the same company that everything would be as it was before, except for the car of course. Not the case!!!

I have thought long and hard about this but to be honest it is a no brainer really. The role comes with a standard three-month trial period. If I stay in the role after the three months then I will have deemed to have taken the role on a permanent basis in which case I accept the new redundancy terms as offered. This means that if I am there for example, another five years, which would give me twenty years service and then something happens which puts me in another redundancy situation then I will only ever walk away with about three or four thousand pounds. However, and as I am doing, if I hand my notice in before the end of the three month trial period, then my termination reverts to my previous role, in which case I walk away with my enhanced redundancy package and approx. fifteen thousand pounds -- I just have to bite the bullet and take my chance in the job market place.

Hopefully I will find something quickly. I am registered with about fifteen online agencies -- but I have also worked out my outgoings and worse case scenario based on my final redundancy package.

I think the thing for me is getting used to the whole idea of interviews and job seeking!!! It just seems a bit bizarre having worked for same company for so long since I left college. Now 34 years old, that’s almost half my life with one company!!!

You’ll have to excuse my diatribe, I can go on a bit I’m afraid – but I hope it helps; it has certainly made me feel better writing about it anyway!

Thanks for your time.

Regards,

Patrick.

P.S. – if anyone out there works in Logistics and knows of any suitable positions then please let me know and I can forward my CV on.

Along with a number of colleagues I was made redundant in 1995. (Those were the days when employers got rid of long serving staff to then take on short term contract staff who were cheaper to employ) As I am the mortgage payer my first thoughts were to panic and use the whole of my lump sum to pay off the mortgage. However at the time I paid in the redundancy cheque the advice was don't pay it off straightaway as if you are lucky and find another job quite quickly you can then think about what you want to do. If the payoff is a large sum of money then think carefully as it could just be a life changing amount of money - is there something you have always wanted to do but never had the cash to carry it out. I decided to try for a local job instead of the commute into London. I was working again in under a week and have been with my present company for 11 years now. Although at the time I thought it the worst thing to have happened to me I now think it was the best thing my old employer did. I walk to work - no more crushes on the tube, rail strikes, wrong leaves on the line, humungus fare increases etc. yes there was a drop in salary but within a few years I was back to earning what I was paid in my previous job. I also was in a Trade Union and it was a good job too as my previous employer advertised my job 3 months after I had gone using the same job title & description. This was stamped on immediately by the Union and an extra sum of money came my way.

However, I am now facing redundancy again due to a company wide IT solution called SAP - but this time having prudently looked after my money & sorted out my pension I am going to take the option of retiring at 55. From day one this will be my time. To anyone else facing this situation never criticise your old employer at any job interview and look on the experience as a positive one. Above all keep your CV up to date these days you never know when you might need it. And good luck and good job hunting.