Going for redundancy over a new job

[Redundancy]

Am a regular that has name-changed.

DH works for a very well known company that has recently gone through a high profile media catastophe. A lot of changes were to be and subsequently have been unveiled in the form of a massive re-structure. DH is highly regarded within the company and is currently away for 4 days on a very prestigious internal work scheme that a select number of people are invited to apply for each year. The purpose is to raise your profile and your scope/options within the company. Aswell as this DH had been informed as early as march of this year that his department may well face total re-structure. He has found it in the last few days (while away on this internal work scheme project) the results of the re-structure. His entire department is now defunct and he has been offered a redundancy package, aswell as the option to apply for 5 different jobs. He has been guided all the way through this process and has been told that he should fully expect to get a job and they are only offering a redundancy package because they can't not.

Anyway, the redundancy offer is very good and would give us a very good lump sum after tax. I know that DH isn't really considering taking redundancy and he has most definitely been coached through this process as if he was expected to apply for and get another (more high profile) role. I am now tinking that we would never get another chance to get that amount of money as a lump sum. We could pay off some debts and perhaps look to do some things to the house that I have thought about (but could only do with at least c£25k to spend) and also have some significant savings left over. DH could quite possibly get another job within his industry within the next few months anyway.

So WWYD? Take the money and take the chance of DH getting another, similar job? Or apply for one of the other jobs that are on offer? They are totally brand new roles that have come about as a result of the re-structure, so there is not really anything to compare against. DH doesn't have details of pay structure as yet but they would have to be comparable or more to what he earns now.

I'm no expert, but I'd check two things:
a) If your husband has the option of a suitable job and refuses it, is he still eligible for the redundancy payment?
b) What's the job market like in his line of business? In the current economic situation I would want to be very sure there are a lot of birds in the bush before letting go of the one in my hand.

Well, in a similar situation I took the money and ran. I took the summer off and am now looking for another job. I dont expect that I will be able to get a new job at exactly the same level. However, if I can get a job (there are no guarantees) I hope that in the long run we will be better off.