Would you take voluntary redundancy?

[ThirtyRoad]

Payout will be £27000. It's probably the only chance I'll have at getting on the property ladder, but I have a young family and risk not walking straight into another job. Wwyd?

I work in the energy sector.

What is the alternative? If you don’t take VR is your job secure? If you reject the VR offer and are still made redundant are the terms comparable?
I took VR, had a little time off and never looked back BUT that’s not necessarily the right path for anyone else!

You say you wouldn't walk into another job, but how long, realistically, do you think it would take you to find one of a comparable (or acceptable) wage?

Do you have any savings that you could use to live on in addition to the 27k?

Is your salary essential to your household income or do you have a partner whose wage would support you all, even if frugally?

In summary, if there's a risk you will end up having to use most of the 27k for day to day expenses until you find another job, it probably isn't worth it (unless you hate your job and would have been looking to move on anyway).

If you're confident it will be possible to use what you need of the 27k to get on the property ladder, 100% go for it.

I’d go for it unless you think it could take you over 6 months to find a job?

I'd do it if I was prepared to find A job and not necessarily THE job of my dreams.

Don’t you need evidence of a permanent job to get a mortgage?

Suggest you do a rapid scope of the jobs market - talk to a few agencies, scour linked in, have a look at the jobs sections of comparable companies websites. See if you can get a feel. However if you do take it, I would suggest you aim to get back into work as soon as possible otherwise your windfall disappears very quickly. Speaking from experience.

How many months pay is that?

I agree with Cloud Pop that if you take the VR start looking straight away. Very easy to start eating into your redundancy pay. I too speak from experience. I ended taking a horrible job but kept looking and only stayed there for 4 months. Good luck

Does your household have another salary coming in?

Yes, a mortgage can only be considered once in employment for 6 months.

My partner has an income of 29k.

What is your current salary? What might be your other job options?

27K is a years wages reasonably speaking
So if you can survive for a year on your 27 and his 29k, and you think you'd walk into someone else within the year but possibly sooner its possibly worth a gamble.
If you think you'll be stuck in a lower paid job or won't find anything for a few years or 27k is so far below your current wage you can't afford the bills, it isn't.

Do you like your job?

We've been in this situation as a family recently. I would

I did and it was the best move I could have made but I was very confident that I would walk straight into another job. Everyone at the time told me to play it safe and stay but I'm glad I took the leap as the firm I left eventually went under and I ended up with a better paid job and I enjoyed it more.

I would say go for it if you're pretty sure it won't take you long to find another job.