When your employer is planning to make redundancies, you can choose to put yourself forward for redundancy before being selected. This is called 'voluntary redundancy'.
This can be done by either:
- your employer asking for volunteers
- you offering ('volunteering') to be made redundant
To volunteer for redundancy, you can ask your employer. It's a good idea to put it in writing. You should follow your employer's policy or procedure for voluntary redundancy, if they have one.
Your employer does not have to agree to make you redundant as they will be considering the needs of the business as a whole. For example, if you're highly skilled and experienced in your role, they might need to keep you on.
Your employer does not have to offer voluntary redundancy to everyone. But if you feel they stopped you volunteering because of your sex, age, disability or another 'protected characteristic', it could be discrimination.