query on redundancy

[Morph2]

Hi
I wonder if someone in the know could answer a question we have.
A couple of weeks ago my bf's work announced a restructure and that there would be possible redundancies. We were really upset at first (i'm currently 28 weeks pregnant) but then we got the estimate through of his redundancy pay and as he's been there 14 years he basically would end up (after tax) with just under the equivalent of 9 months of his current net pay. So we have come to the conclusion that he would be better off with the redundancy as the restructure is basically staff cutting so whoever is left is going to find its a lot harder job than it is now. Also he's heard where the same restructure has taken place in different areas of the country the staff turnover afterwards has been really high as staff had ended up leaving due to the increased stress and of course if they leave of their own accord they get no redundancy.

Anyway the consultation took place over last 2 weeks and today they announced the new structure and the jobs included.

At the minute my bf is a supervisor but this isn't a position in the new structure. There is an assistant manager job but this is based 35 miles away (at the minute he works 10 miles away) and then at the place he is now there is only assistants.

He has been told that he has to apply for one of the positions so is going to apply for an assistants job as basically with the baby due he can't face having to commute an hour and a half each way every day if he got the assistant manager job.

Only the job descriptions have been released at present and not details of the salary, as far as we understand they are expected to go for the jobs first and salary rates will be decided later.

Our query is, say he goes for the assistant job and gets it, then finds out the pay is alot less than he is on now. Can he turn this down and if so does it mean that he loses out on any of his redundancy? What about him not applying for the assistant manager could this be held against him in what he is entitled to for redundancy.

His wages now is ok, not fantastic but ok, about £18k per annum, but currently assistants are paid more like £14k. Could he be forced to take this £4k pay cut?

[cantcarryon]

Sounds like it might be a good idea for your bf to have a chat with management about possible voluntary redundancy deals - has this been mentioned at all during the meetings? As it sounds like his is one of the jobs at risk it might suit everyone to come to an amicable agreement.

[flowerybeanbag]

If he wants to take the redundancy rather than try for one of the other jobs, he should broach this with his manager. If they are happy to go with that it will benefit everyone, their decisions will be easier, someone else will keep their job when potentially they may not have, and your partner will get what he wants.

If they are not prepared to consider voluntary redundancy he needs to ask his employer the questions you've asked. He isn't in a position to decide which post to apply for without knowing what will happen to salaries, so he needs to make sure he finds that out first. I imagine everyone will be in the same boat so they need to be clear about it. It may well be that they will freeze salaries so even if people end up in more junior positions they won't lose out financially.

He also need to find out what happens if he applies for the assistant position (once he knows what would happen to his salary) and doesn't get it, and needs to check that he is free to apply for any job he chooses and will still be redundant if he doesn't get it.

His redundancy pay will be calculated on his existing salary, so no need to worry about that.

[Morph2]

thanks for advise so far. Voluntary redundancy hasn't been given as an option as far as i know they have basically been told that they have to apply for one of the other jobs. His manager is kind of in the same boat as he's also subject to the restructure although the interviews for the main manager position take place on Wednesday as they want to get the main manager in place so they can be involved in the other interviews so hopefully after this is sorted then there will be someone to ask