Furlough or redundancy

[Sami1936]

I've been with my employer for 33 years. I am on sick leave with full pay with family stress and anxiety. I received an email from my employer asking me to agree to furlough terms to receive 80% of my salary. My preference due to my personal circumstances would be to take redundancy. Am I in a position to request this?

Is your position actually redundant though? Might be worth taking furlough and discussing later.

It's not redundant yet. I thought I had the option of redundancy if I refused furlough terms. I have agreed to furlough meantime but wondered what my options were.

Would not think your firm would want to make you redundant probably too expensive.
Only they can decide the better option

There is no harm making your preference known to your employer but I would say no, you cannot request it.

If they made you redundant, there would be a relatively big payout involved, if they furlough you, you will be of no cost to the company. So I would suggest they are unlikely to choose redundancy for you at this time.

Nothing wrong with you asking. If there is no lay off clause in your contract and your employer is therefore seeking your agreement to furlough (rather than imposing it), they should have made clear what will happen if you refuse- what’s the alternative?

I would certainly ask that question before agreeing.

You can't be forced to furlough, so if your role is truly redundant and they cannot redeploy you, they may have no option but to make you redundant.

People assume that everyone would be happy to be furloughed but those with many years service may be due a big redundancy payment even on statutory, which they would prefer.

Wouldn’t plan on redudency tbh