Well the letter landed the other day, after an initial mass consultation informing us that we were to be put at risk, so I am now provisionally redundant from my role, with termination of contract looming on the April 5th and payment in lieu of notice.

Thankfully the package presented is pretty good, so the pressure to find a role isn’t massive right now and I work in the rail industry so it’s awash with vacancies at the moment, which is nice.

It’s a strange feeling actually seeing written down on a bit of paper what your boss actually thinks (scores & justification) of you, despite deep down knowing it anyway; and as I discussed with my company council rep yesterday at a further consultation meeting, it can’t be good when other than the few good people the biggest thing you’ll miss about your job is the car! Ironically he agreed and was in his words, amazed that I was the one who had been selected and the whole process stunk from the top to the bottom.

So, all being well, I’ll pick up the money, secure another job which will more than likely not start straight away as HR never seem to be that efficient and that the weather in April is good so I can get some riding it.

Once nice thing is, that as I’m not going to the office (invoking the mentally fit to work protocol we have) and that’s been agreed, I can take the kids to school and then walk over in the afternoon and walk home with them over the fields that lie between us and the school.

Literally every person I know who’s been made redundant, including myself, has at first thought it’s rubbish. It has then turned out to be a very positive thing. Take it as an opportunity to move onto better things. You seem to be in a good place anyway so I hope everything works out.

Best of luck with the job hunt, going by STW threads most people seem to end up in a better place after redundancy. I’ve managed to dodge the bullet a few times myself but go from nervous panic before the selection is made to thinking it probably would have been better to have been on the list and finally given me the shove I needed to look for a better job.

It was a bit shit at the time (around 4 years ago), but it became more and more shit as I realised over 50s weren’t really wanted as new starters in IT… and trying to change careers was impossible without losing the 2nd house (lost previous in divorce) in the last 10 years.
I dunno, got something in the end, within cycling distance of home, so can’t complain. But the £20K pay cut stings somewhat!
Good luck Steve. Do some nice things with the redundancy pay, like I did, but don’t blow it ALL, like I did! 😀

Literally every person I know who’s been made redundant, including myself, has at first thought it’s rubbish. It has then turned out to be a very positive thing.

I can’t disagree, I’ve been through 2 painful redundancies for very different reasons, but worked out for the best fairly quickly.

Good luck Steve. Do some nice things with the redundancy pay, like I did, but don’t blow it ALL, like I did!

Cheers, if I don’t secure something off the bag it’ll be used as normal income, if I do I’ll be getting a van for biking

I’m going through the same right now as well – since december when all our positions were made redundant in restructure.

Again thought i was safe as i had an active and profitable project that was going well.

Was sat at my desk working away when the newely appointed supervisor introduced me to a person by saying “they will be doing XYZ project” XYZ project being mine…….

got up turned round went over supervisors head to top brass and asked what the crack was and was told i was being put back into the (international)field to meet business needs as my skill set matched. No discussion – it was not even a role on the table when we reapplied for our jobs, not even informing me of the intention. No idea why i chose to move back to a UK contract in a UK office based role over going into the field.

Fortunately it is enough of a change of role for me to cash in my 9 years service

I made hay while the sun shone on the international field scene – but now my home life has changed in such a way i cannot do that any more. Management are not interested so it leaves me only one route.

the one I’m keeping in my hipper for now the 5 people they have employed have the same job title and broadly the same responsibilities that i had…..

My attitude to it all is its not worth the stress to even try and fight it.

Good luck , take care and enjoy the downtime as much you can.

I can take the kids to school and then walk over in the afternoon and walk home with them over the fields that lie between us and the school

Make the most of this. Start looking for jobs sooner rather than later. Do stuff you don’t normally get to do.

(speaking from a position of never having been made redundant but have been out of work).

Steve – it might be worth pushing your payment back by one day to the 6th April if you are going to have some time off.

Redundancy used to be pretty tax efficient with PILON included but these are now taxed. If you get your lump sum on 5 April all your earnings for this tax year will be included and may tip you into a high tax band. If you push the payment a day (sure your HR will understand) your slate is clean and you can utilise personal allowance etc especially if you are going to have some time off.

Do some research as I’m not a tax accountant – or others can chime in…

**watches with interest as my employer is not looking too good currently. Too many years service to walk away and VR scheme is in another leg of the business but heading in our teams direction.

Good luck by the way OP.

Redundancy used to be pretty tax efficient with PILON included but these are now taxed.

To be clear, its just the PILON that is taxed/NI’ed, which is fair enough, I guess.

In the short term redundancy isn’t great. It’s not just the money, it’s also for many the feeling of being told that you are no longer wanted/required. However once you have been through it for the first time & got something else, it can be very empowering as the fear of redundancy dissipates; you know if it does, no problem, you sorted it before and you can sort it again. Plus, as others have said, the majority do seem to end up in a better position. Good luck.

Agreed, think there is a cap on redundancy of £30k tax free too.

I got made redundant, and only got statutory amount, so that was truly shit, but then I set up on my own doing what I did, so its all kinda worked out in the end for the better.

TBH, I got redundant about two weeks before I was all set to jack the job in anyway – or at least, had worked myself up to deciding it wasn’t where I wanted to be. Problem solved. Was able to take time off to be with young family, was able to repatriate my dad back from taking ill in Germany, was able to move back to be closer to ageing parents without work getting in the way..

Happened to me a couple of years ago. Would highly recommend structuring your days – I would spend half a day either job searching or researching/studying and the other half doing things for me – cycling, meeting friends for lunch etc.

Things worked out well in the end. It was a blessing in disguise.

**watches with interest as my employer is not looking too good currently.

+1

Not experienced it yet, but looking increasingly likely that the current employer won’t be around long, in which case there will be no pay off, just a ‘go home we’ve gone bust’….

Best thing that happened to me when I was made redundant 20 years ago. Would probably have been sacked if I’d stayed because I couldn’t get my head round the new fangled management speak that was flooding through the business. Got a good deal which took all the financial pressure away – for good. Mortgage paid off too. Could afford to pick and choose what I did. Took 12 months or so but finished up working for myself in a completey different line of business and taking home 50% more wages for 4 days a week work.

There are worse things in life than being made redundant.

Know exactly how it feels, let go at end of February after nearly 14 years also a rail
company.
Had a virus since leaving which I’m only just getting over.
Let’s hope things work out for us both😃

good luck to OP and all on the thread – I went through it 2yrs ago and was lucky to score something quick but it’s still stressful whatever happens.

I know it’s dull and full of those types of people, but, get on linkedin, connect to as many people as you know and put a post on there saying ‘looking for roles from x date onwards’. Post on all your social media.

also ask your personal non-work mates about jobs, you’d be surprised who knows about stuff happening – the school run is also really useful as the other parents in the playground will give you ideas

The high tax band won’t make any difference as I’m well into it anyway and any other role I’ll be aiming at is too, so payment date doesn’t really matter.

The days are already nicely structured, take kids to school, spend the morning working on new opportunities, lunch time bike ride and a bit more work in the afternoon before collecting the kids.

Loads of networking going on, so I’m optimistic of securing something pretty quickly with the feedback I’m getting from people I trust.

Good luck to everyone else in the same boat.

It’s happened to me three times. Last one was a year ago after 16 years so got a decent payout and I was starting to loath the job. I’m trying to set up an web business as a means to create a regular income for my retirement – response is good but very difficult trying to generate any volume in the current climate so expect it’ll be a bit of a slow-burner. Will probably start looking for something else in the next 3 months – maybe a 6 month temp contract to top-up the coffers. Will probably relocate / size-down in the next 5 years too – web business can come too. What’s been good is finding out exactly how much you need to live on and cutting your cloth accordingly.

I happened to me last July – got back from a biking trip to Whistler and two days later they called the entire company into the room (about 22 of us) and told us everyone was up for redundancy

This was followed by individual meetings where we were told if they wanted to keep us. In the end they got rid of just under 50% of us

I had pretty much decided that I was going to start looking for a new job when I got back from holiday

I’d been there for just under 5 years so I did get some redundancy (just statutory), so basically I ended up getting paid to go job hunting

I had three job offers in just under two weeks, one of which I accepted and I’m still there now

At the time the recruitment consultants I spoke to told me they were having their busiest July/August pretty much ever

Also let go on Feb 28. I’ve got a few irons in the fire, so hope to be able to get something sorted soon, but ideally then delay the start date until maybe May or even June, it’s nice to have time to myself but only got statutory plus pilon so also have that stress of knowing the money runs out around July or August.

Second what was said about structuring the day, but I prefer to devote M/W/F to the job search and keep Tu/Th/weekend for me…… although of course I check email and calls even on days off.

Happened to me 4 years ago after 23 years service. At first was worried but I wanted to go anyway as had enough of all the bullshit and secretly hoped it might happen rather than just jacking it in with no pay off. It was weird though going through all the meetings where people you have worked with pretend to care, I just wanted to hear how much dosh, played along to see how long I could string it out getting paid for doing bugger all and not going in whilst planning my next venture. Best thing that ever happened, work for myself now, doing okay and no more stress. Happened to so many people I know at a certain age, all after the initial collywobbles are now in a much better place. Good luck OP.

Happened to me eventually (it took 3.5 years to close the site).

Got a good package as base (8 weeks per year at 145%) plus 3 years of bonuses able to clear mortgage etc as I had 16 years service.

Now in a job I enjoy so much more, paid 50% more, only down side is my commute is 125km so only able to cycle during BST.

I only know of 1 person from the site closing in a worst situation.

Took voluntary two years ago, already had job lined up so had two months off over Christmas, took a nice swedge, got myself a mahhhtahhh, all schweet as a nut. Then we moved house and all the rest went on stamp duty. Bastard.

But definitely echo the above, new horizons init!

Got a good package as base (8 weeks per year at 145%) plus 3 years of bonuses able to clear mortgage etc as I had 16 years service.

Git 😉

I obviously can’t tell you about the statutory minimum that I got because of the terms of my settlement agreement. Equally I couldn’t tell you that I think they are a right bunch of ****s even if I wanted to.

I’m in the club, not quite a bolt out of the blue – I was asked to put a redundancy policy together (and told I wasn’t at risk), one week later it was thanks and so long. With the benefit of hindsight, the policy I put together may have been a little different…. 🙂

I was devastated at the time but got lots of support on here. My best mate (who’s not unequainted with the process) said (as others have said before) everyone he’s had to let go has ended up in a better place, and I wholeheartedly agree – it got me out of a deadend, soul-destroying shithole into a job I really enjoy that actually has a future. It wasn’t the financial winner for me that it appears to have been for some, but it meant a couple of months off before I started the new gig. Good luck! 🙂

So as a bit of an update, I’ve done loads of gardening, a bit of bike riding and the kids have been on half-term, so that was nice and I finish with my current employer this coming Friday……………

…………. and I’ve got a new job on a very similar role & money, staring the following Monday. So I’ve gone and bought myself a nice ’16 T6 Kombi (which I get tomorrow) with the payout and all is good.

I sincerely hope it turns out as well for the others who have mentioned they’re in the same boat on here.

Happy days! Onwards and upwards sll the best. 🙂