Background information

The Rapid Response Service is provided as part of the services provided by local Jobcentre Plus offices. In England the service is funded from national funds via the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), however, there is no information available on the budget allocated to RRS. In Scotland, this service is delivered through Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE). In Wales, it is delivered by the ReAct scheme .

ACAS (The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) provides an online redundancy helpline. Acas is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), providing free and impartial advice to employers, employees and their representatives on employment rights, best practice and policies.

Content of measure

Jobcentre Plus support under the Rapid Response Service (RRS) includes helping workers facing redundancies with drafting their CVs, general advice about benefits, helping workers identify transferable skills and training needs, providing training in vocational skills and assistance with costs like travel to work expenses. 

Workers can access the Rapid Response Service if they suspect they are going to be made redundant, during their notice period and up to 13 weeks after they have been made redundant.

Jobcentre Plus also provides fast-track access for large scale redundancies. This service includes on-site advice; links and referrals to other agencies; information and advice about job vacancies and training opportunities; skills and training need analysis; training; and one-off payments for expenses associated with obtaining new employment. 

Coverage extends to organisations and their employees facing redundancies. All people impacted by redundancy are eligible to access the services offered by RRS, this includes: those under threat of redundancy but who are still employed; those under notice of redundancy but who are still employed; those who lose their jobs in companies which are in the supply chain of a larger company making redundancies; and those who lose their jobs in a location designated as having RRS status by Jobcentre Plus; those indirectly losing their jobs as a ma result of the redundancy and those whose redundancy period has elapsed, regardless of whether or not they have made a claim for benefits.

Use of measure

As of June 2020, updated statistics have not been published for several years. Between April 2002 and January 2003, the Rapid Response Service (RRS) provided new and continued support to 178 projects covering over 210 companies that were making over 70,000 people redundant. Around 10,000 people took up services offered under RRS, with the majority receiving information, advice and guidance (nearly 7,900) and skills and training analysis (3,300). Training was offered to 970 persons only. Over 60% of individuals whose destinations are known moved into employment following RRS, and the majority of these people were still in work four weeks later.

The fast-track service for large-scale redundancies is an on-site measure and is a fast and responsive service. It leads to an improved relationship between Jobcentre Plus and employers and to improved use of labour market information at regional and local levels.

The fast-track service is provided proactively only in cases where 20 or more redundancies are planned. This clearly limits the accessibility of SMEs to the scheme.

An example of the application of the RRS is Thomas Cook.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Trade unions Employers' organisations Local / regional government Public employment service	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 01 April 2002: Making staff redundant - Getting help (www.gov.uk)
• 01 April 2002: Redundancy: your rights (www.gov.uk)
• 01 April 2022: ReAct Plus | Working Wales (workingwales.gov.wales)
• 23 September 2022: Advice and information if you are an employee or customer of Thomas Cook (www.gov.uk)