Redundancy and suitable alternative employment

Hi - I am in the process of being made redundant. My job no longer exists due to organisational change. I should have been issued with my notice of redundancy this week but this has been delayed due to changes to the redundancy scheme. I am on 10 weeks notice so had I received my notice of redundancy would finish around the end of August. I have been offered temporary work until the end of November ( essentially delaying my final day by approx 3.5 mths) Can you tell me whether this temporary offer of employment constitutes 'suitable alternative employment' and therefore whether I will forfeit redundancy if I do not accept it. The temporary work is at same grade/salary/location but I have no job description and only a vague idea of what it involves - my issues is with regards to suitability in terms of its short term nature rather than grade/salary/duties etc. as I would rather leave the organisation now with my redundancy than extend the agony that has been the last few months !! Thanks for any help - Karen

Hi, this almost exactly mirrors my own situation. I received a letter over a month ago informing me that my post no longer existed but just asking me to "hang on".
No formal notice of redundancy and when pressed management just keep saying "hang on". My trades union received the same reply.

I had a letter last week asking me to accept a temporary post under my existing line manager. No details of duration or any idea what the work was or where it would be located. They wanted me to formally accept this or reject it.

My manager could not provide any answers. I wrote and asked them to tell me what the job is, where it is and roughly for how long. I also asked them to tell me the consequences of not accepting it.

An indeterminate job is not a like for like job offer so am I redundant or not? There are no posts at my grade in the home civil service. I check every day. My travel to work area in my contract is 1 hour by public transpot. There are no jobs in that area and with the cuts the likelihood is there will not be.

What should I do? Can I force them to formally declare me redundant?
I too would prefer to take whats due to me and leave to start afresh. I back myself to find or create another job to see my up to 65. I am 58 now. Thanx.

News Update
The temporary job offer was to continue doing what I am doing now, under my existing line manager for another two months max and then be declared suplus. Surplus is a civil service tool for redeploying staff and trying to avoid redundancy. In normal times it works well but only if there are jobs to move to. At the moment there aren't any jobs to move to.

If I didn't accept the temporary job I would be declared surplus straight away.

So where do I go from here?

A temporary job for 2 months is 2 months more pay. However as stated I would rather take what is due to me contactually and get on with my life some where else.

They are trying to avoind making me redundant until they impose the far worse redundancy terms that they tried to impose in March but lost after a High Court challenge.

What do I do and how can I force the issue in a no risk way. Civil Servants by their nature are risk adverse!

Karen - I don't think temporary work like that would constitute a suitable alternative, no, so I think you should be fine. Have your employer indicated that they believe this is a suitable alternative and said that you must accept it or forfeit redundancy?

Iain - A quick Google indicates that the Civil Service have a detailed and structured 'protocol' for managing surplus staff and for fulfilling their legal obligation to avoid making people redundant if possible. I'm afraid I can't see a way to bypass their normal systems for trying to find alternative work for you, as they are obliged to do.

Obviously if you either don't take the temporary job and are left hanging with no job or prospect of a job for a significant period of time, that might be different, or if the same thing happens in a couple of months after this temporary job. But at the moment you haven't even been declared surplus yet.

UPDATE

So no doubt many of you will have read that the Government are now going to attack Civil Servants contracted redundancy packages by passing a new act through parliament at high speed so that they can get rid of us on the cheap.

I am sure that many of you on statutary redundancy terms will not have a great deal of sympaphy for our plight. However...

We accepted the job with lower wages against a trade off for relative job security and decent severage packages plus a final salary scheme pension.

We have just had a 2 year pay freeze ending July 2010 and now have another 2 year pay freeze imposed. That will be 4 years without a pay rise!

So, I am surpluss in a temporary non job. I was told in writing my job had gone. There are no alternative jobs and the government wish to keep me dangling until they rush through a law to take away my expected redundancy package.

Is this time for a no win no fee case? Either my job has gone or it hasn't. My "non job" ends in 4 weeks and with no alternatives plus 4000 further job cuts due on top of the 4000 already factored in there will be no "suitable alternative" jobs for me to try.

If the civil service procedure is just being used to dodge my contracted rights surely that can not be right. I have been left dangling since January with numerous emails and formal letters telling me that my job has gone and to just hang on.

Hang on until I am swindled out of what is due to me?

What do I do now? Sorry about the emotive language but today's news has been the final straw.