Following a reduction in workload, we were instructed by a local SME to draft settlement agreements for 4 employees who had successfully applied for voluntary redundancy under which they would receive a generous enhanced exit package. The Company was faced with the difficult decision following a downturn in orders requiring a reduction in overheads and offered voluntary redundancy to its staff as an alternative to a time-consuming redundancy process, under which the employees may be selected and dismissed with their contractual entitlements and only a statutory redundancy payment. Having taken independent legal advice from their solicitors the employees signed the agreements and the project was concluded swiftly and cost-effectively, without the future risk of any Tribunal claim being commenced.