OP
Shakey
Real redundancy is where you have someone doing a job that the company will not need to do anymore. If the employer makes you redundant then employs some else to do your old job, you can ask for your old job back and dicker about pay lost in the interim. Depending upon how long you have been with the company these meetings are where you can ask for retraining grants, so if you want some free training to be able to get another job get some quotes and take them to the meeting with you if you dont want retraining then ask what criteria that are using to choose who is leaving and who is staying (get this in writing). If they make you redundant and they havent followed their own criteria you can improve your payout via court/ tribunal and or ask for you job back. Get a copy of the company employee manual if they dont follow their own rules then again the payout goes up and you can keep working for them until they sort it out. Usually once you have left they won't take you back but the payout will reflect this, normal payout is around 2 years wages if they have been naughty and it goes to court/ tribunal and you have been with the company 5years+. Also if this news makes you feel unwell you may have to go off sick with stress, they can't procede with the redundancy until you are well enough to deal with it, if they do they will really have to payout Bear in mind that if you do get a big payout you might never be employed in this field again, but then again you can always work for yourself.
Moog, dont quite agree with some of your comments - redundancy is easy for employers because there are few rules for selection. They MAY use 'last in-first out', they may use a points system based on attendance, sickness etc or they may just pick the guy with the biggest nose - its up to them. Miminum payout is between half and one and a half weeks pay for each year of service, depending on age, and subject to a minimum of 2 years. You also get accrued holidays, pay in leiu of notice etc.
Additionally with sickness, there is no barr to making someone redundant because they are sick. If there was, and someone esle was made redundant because the person was sick, then that would defintely be a tribunal case.
i agree that the employment laws cause the problem off 'on the books' versus 'subbies'. Its extremelyy difficult to get rid of someone who is not up to the job, and companies are very wary of taking on full time staff because of it.