Redundancy support

What we offer

Are you thinking about making redundancies? Or undertaking a restructure?

Would you like to help your staff to have the best possible opportunity to secure a new job?

Are you interested in accessing free training and support for your staff?

We offer a fully-funded Redundancy2Employment service at the Council to reduce the risk of individuals becoming unemployed. As a city council we are keen to work with business to ensure individuals at risk of redundancy can easily transition into alternative work, making the most of our skilled labour and reducing anxiety for the individual.

Redundancies are challenging, both for the business and for the individual. Our offer of support is here to help you both.

Our offer compromises of:

• a one-to-one consultation to understand the changes you are making to your business, understand your corporate values and understand how you wish to support your staff who are at risk of redundancy
• collaboration with a trade union as required
• development of a bespoke support and training offer, utilising our partner network.

Our bespoke package is tailored to meet the need of your business and employees. We coordinate and build your package of support, so you don’t have to. We utilise our existing partner network and bring in support as required.

Following our support provided to Incora, they said:

The support that Employment and Skills team arranged for our colleagues who were at risk was amazing. I didn’t realise there was so much help available. We provided a wish list based on the skills that our colleagues told us they would find most helpful and we were offered everything we requested. The feedback from the attendees was brilliant. They really valued the help provided and many said how much it increased their confidence to take the next steps in their careers.

Cheryl Parkin, Employer Brand and Engagement Manager at Incora.

For more information or an informal chat about the support we can provide, contact us by email at employmentandskills@derby.gov.uk or telephone 01332 956989.

Pre-employment support

We can provide 1:1 or group employment support to those that would benefit from external and professional advice to best prepare them to compete in the jobs market.

This offer can include:

• putting together, updating, or reviewing a CV – to ensure the individual creates the best impression to a future employer
• support with completing application forms or a critical friend to offer advice
• advice on interviews; including best practice tips, questions and answers (5 STAR Method), preparation and research and a mock interview session if requested
• presentation skills – to brush up on this skill; to support at interview
• job searching support – how and where to job search to get the best results.

We offer a 1:1 appointment following all our workshops, for anyone wishing to receive on-going pre-employment or job searching support.

Labour market insight

We provide a workshop to inform potential job seekers about labour market activity, jobs, occupations, careers and job demand.

Following this workshop job seekers are better informed about their next steps, in terms of job and career opportunities, locally and nationally.

We offer 1:2:1 appointments following this workshop, for anyone wishing to receive ongoing job searching support.

Skills and training 

We can develop a workshop where training providers are relevant to your industry, sector and occupations. They are able to present their funded skills and training offer to your staff, to support them to increase their skills and better compete in the jobs market.

When bringing partners together, we will work with you to consider what skills training would be most relevant to your staff.

Training can include:

• transitional training for entry-level roles into any sector; for example, construction, logistics, health and social care
• technical skill required for specific roles, such as digital, engineering, construction
• management skills, such as project management, team leading
• administrative and IT related skills to improve digital capability
• further education or degree level qualifications – including an ‘Access to Higher Education’ workshop for those who are unsure about this transition.

This is not an exhaustive list. We can bring the right partners together to meet your needs.

As an employer you can also access free impartial advice and guidance about the training courses and qualifications available to all your workforce, which can include restructuring your workforce post redundancy.

Recruitment events 

We can deliver recruitment events at your premises, or virtually. Your employees who are facing redundancy, have direct access to employers offering employment opportunities.

We deliver these with the aim to reduce the likelihood of unemployment, following redundancy. The transition from one job to the next is also best for the individual.

We can also inform staff about upcoming recruitment fairs, vacancies or other employment opportunities if they subscribe to .

Money advice 

Individuals are often concerned, when being made redundant, about their money. We can offer advice and workshops on the following topics:

• Benefits – what are your benefit entitlements when you are no longer in work
• Pension – impartial advice on pensions
• Money management – how to make best use of your money including budgeting and access to finance.

For those who feel they may struggle financially following redundancy, we can offer a 1:1 appointment with one of our specialist partners.

Coping with redundancy

Many individuals struggle with confidence, anxiety, stress and mental health problems following redundancy.

Redundancy is a challenging and testing time for many and providing the right support for employees is important.

We deliver a workshop that will look to address these issues and provide an open forum for discussion, reflection and enable move-on support. This may include referral to one our other workshops, 1:1 follow-up support or signposting to specialist local services as required.

Self-employment advice

You may have members of staff who wish to explore self-employment as an option following redundancy. If this is the case, we can offer 1:1 support or deliver a workshop virtually or at your premises.

'Is self-employment for me?' is a workshop that can be delivered for up to 20 members of staff. It aims to help individuals who are considering self-employment, to better understand what is involved and the support available.

For interested individuals, follow-up 1:1 advice is offered by one of our professional start-up advisors. As well as access to a fuller programme of workshops and potential funding.