Possible redundancy - WWYD

[Althenameshavegone]

I’ve been working for current company for over 10 years and had been planning to quit early next year to take a career break after being unhappy in my role for a while. about a year ago I had a discussion with line manager about how I was considering leaving as I wasn’t happy with my role.

this week it was announced that the company may have to consider redundancies if financial situation doesn’t improve, and voluntary redundancy etc would likely be offered in first instance. no timescales were put on this.

Should I put myself forward for voluntary redundancy before redundancies are announced? As I’ve been there a while I’m probably one of the more expensive people to be made redundant so worry that they’ll just hope I leave of my own accord between now and then.

You can ask, but in all honesty it sounds like a "we might have to consider this" rather than a planned situation in progress, and most employers wouldn't consdier applications until they know hat they need to shed and where they need to shed it.

yes although from the way the company operates it’s very likely that I’ll be part of the pool of roles to be made redundant, as we don’t really have specific departments, if that makes sense. Would there be any risk in putting myself forward before anything is officially announced?

This can sometimes be used as a strategy by some companies who need people to leave but don't want to have to pay them off. By setting the seed of "potential" redundancy they will be hoping that some people will leave of their own accord now rather than later.
Do what is right for you but make sure you protect yourself

What do you mean by protect myself? I suppose this is what I’m confused about, if there’s any risk in asking for it now, would the risk just be “ok we’ll consider you if/when we announce the process”. Or is there scope to agree a settlement that’s maybe less than what I’d get in statutory but leaving earlier? I have a 2 month notice period if that’s of any relevance.

If you approach them they may say that there's no redundancies currently but we'd be happy to take your resignation or worse find a way to manage you out so you'd get nothing.
If you can afford to walk away with nothing now that's fine but for the sake of a couple of months you might be as well of holding out to see what they say.
This is looking at it from purely a financial basis however you say you are unhappy.

If so are so unhappy that it is impacting your mental health and / or quality of life then that's a different discussion

I’d be wary of making it clear that you will be leaving regardless, as surely they’ll be no incentive for them to actually pay you redundancy. I’d just keep quiet and wait to see what actually emerges.

Wait until anything is officially announced before you ask to be considering. If they don't ahead with it then you will have reminded your manager that you don't intend to stay, so why bother making you happy.