unclear notice period

i have worked in a store for two years and my employer has recently advised me that 'he can't afford me' and is going to do my job himself. he indicated a 4 week notice period to give me a decent chance of finding a new job elsewhere. the next day one of my colleagues mentioned her concern to him about the difficulty i would face finding a job in such a short timescale and he approached me saying he was okay with the 4 weeks stretching out to 6 or even 8 weeks.
at no time has the word 'redundancy' been mentioned.
should i drift along in a bid of earning money while i can? when do i mention my entitlement to redundancy pay? if i am offered a job while i am there where do i stand? if i ask him to put my leaving date in writing and then need to leave before that would i lose redundancy entitlment? i would appreciate any help

I do not think that this will be an easy one to answer because the law is actually less flexible than your employer is being, and if you want to stand on your rights - well be prepared for him to stand on his.

If you have been employed for two years (not nearly two years, it must be two years or more) then you are entitled to redundancy pay of two weeks (it is age related, so it may be a bit more or a bit less - but not by much) capped at £400 per week. You are also entitled to two weeks notice. That's it. So you get two weeks notice, and you are out of the door with a pittance in your pocket. That is your legal entitlement.

Your employer, as you seem to be aware, is getting this all wrong - with the best of intentions. He's not pushing you out of the door, he's allowing you several weeks to find another job even though, in law, he has not served you notice by telling you a date you will leave. He gave you double the "notice" you were entitled to, and has now doubled that out of concern for you and your position in fiunding another job. If he wanted to save himself money, offering to let this "drift" and keep paying you for six or eight or so weeks isn't saving him any money - it is costing him more! That is not the action of a cruel employer! So I think that if you found a job and wanted to leave, every indication here is that your employer is going to want to help you as far as he can, and "leaving dates" are not going to be a problem.

Now, technically, in law, you might be able to prove that he owes you redundancy money if you leave in six or eights weeks time and he doesn't pay you it. I say might because although this is your legal right in one sense, the mess created by his trying to be flexible is not helping you either. He has not served you statutory notice (that is the "two weeks and you are out of the door" notice) so if you find another job he is not giving you notice - you are resigning and since you have not been served statutory notice then you have no entitlement to redundancy. If you have not been served statutory notice then you cannot serve counter notice, which is the only way that someone "redundant" can leave early (with the employers agreement) and still get their redundancy money.

So if you were to make a claim to a tribunal for redundancy payment you might not win on legal grounds, because you haven't been served notice; and you also might not win because this is a small employer who doesn't know what he is doing and he is actually doing more for you than you are entitled to - and the law permits this to be taken into account.

So if you want to be paid redundancy money, then I think you have no choice other than to regularise the position by saying that this is a redundancy and poitning out what your rights are. But as I said, this may well be counter-productive for you. Because you may ened up with him turning around and giving you the "two weeks and out of the door" notice with no extension and no time to seek other employment. So it is really up to you. Personally speaking, I would be inclined to forget the redundancy pittance if he is willing to let your formal notice drift and not serve it, and be gald that I have an employer who is willing to be flexible in my interests rather than his own. But that is your choice.