It was inevitable. When George Osborne announced £81bn of spending cuts, redundancies soon followed – and nowhere were they felt more sharply than in local government. Over 170,000 council workers have received at risk notices, so what happens now?
Despite the release of recent figures showing overall unemployment has fallen by 36,000 in the first quarter of this year, the national unemployment level remains high at 2.46 million. Add to this the fact that research published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development this week showed that economic recovery in the private sector is unlikely to fill the deficit left by public sector cuts.
So how can we best cope with redundancies? And most importantly, what help, support and advice is available for those who have already been made redundant? Join us live on Wednesday 25 May from 12pm to 2pm to discuss the issues, but if you can't wait until then our page is open for comments now.
Panel
Dave Parry is a helpline manager for the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) and has been advising people on employment issues since 2009
Ravi Soni is a Careers Adviser for Next Step, a free and impartial service helping adults get the advice they need for future skills, careers, work and life choices
Sarah Jaggers is an Executive and Career Coach at Managing Change, providing expert support for individuals and organisations through periods of job change
Martin Bamford is a Chartered Financial Planner and CFP professional at Informed Choice. He regularly works with people facing redundancy to help to them manage the financial impact of this event
Sue Wait is responsible for Birmingham City Council's In-Source team, which takes lead responsibility for the provision of outplacement services across the council
Luann Donald is the Principal Employment Relations Adviser for the Employment Relations Unit in the Local Government Group
Owen Morgan is Commercial Director of HR services group, Penna. He focuses on active career management, career resilience and the changing nature of work and society
Ciaran Wrynne is the Head of Programme Design and National Delivery at Hays Career Transition Services
Karen Bennett is a helpline adviser for Acas, giving impartial employment relations advice to employers and employees
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