Acas published a number in June that should have unsettled more senior leaders than it did. A third of British employers said they were likely to make redundancies before January 2027, rising to 46 per cent among large employers. For directors, VPs and C-suite leaders, that second figure is the more relevant one, because large organisations are where most senior roles sit and where restructuring decisions tend to carry the greatest career consequence.
The figure does not mean every senior leader is about to lose their role, but it does suggest the probability has shifted. In an environment where nearly half of large employers are openly weighing cuts, senior executives would be unwise to treat redundancy as something happening elsewhere in the organisation, to other people, or at a lower level.
The difficulty is that many executives are slow to behave as though restructuring could reach them personally. Having spent years making difficult decisions, leading change programmes, calming teams and reassuring stakeholders, they can become strangely passive when the same machinery turns towards their own role. They wait for the process to unfold, assume their contribution is already understood, and tell themselves that professionalism means saying very little until they are invited to speak.
That instinct can be expensive.
The 46 per cent figure senior leaders should not ignore
The headline from Acas was that 33 per cent of employers were likely to make redundancies before January 2027. Beneath that, the sharper figure for a senior audience was the 46 per cent of large employers, those with more than 249 employees, who said redundancies were likely. The survey was carried out by YouGov among 1,011 senior decision makers in February 2026.
That is a meaningful signal from the people closest to the decisions. It is not market gossip, recruitment speculation or a vague sense that conditions have become tougher. It is stated employer intention, and it comes at a time when senior hiring is already slower, competition is rising and many organisations are testing whether they can remove cost without immediately replacing capability.
The legal and procedural landscape is also becoming more visible. At present, collective consultation is triggered when an employer proposes 20 or more redundancies at one establishment within a 90-day period. The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces an organisation-wide approach, with changes expected to take effect in 2027 once the final threshold is confirmed.
For senior leaders, the practical implication is that more restructuring activity may become formal, documented and harder to contain within one site, business unit or function. The quiet reorganisation that once moved through a single office or leadership layer may become more difficult to run without broader consultation. More executives may therefore find themselves sitting in rooms they once chaired.
Consultation is a point of leverage
One of the most damaging mistakes senior people make during redundancy consultation is treating it as a period of dignified waiting. It may feel like a process that has already reached its conclusion, particularly when the language is formal and the business case has been prepared, but consultation is still the stage where selection criteria, pooling, alternatives, timing, transition arrangements and exit terms may be open to scrutiny.
That does not require aggression or theatre. It requires executive-level engagement with the facts. Senior leaders should understand the selection logic, question weak assumptions, test whether alternatives have been properly considered, and make a clear evidence-based case for the value they still create. They should also decide early whether their objective is to preserve the role, reshape it, negotiate a more controlled exit or use the process as the point at which they actively move on.
Silence is often misread. What feels to the individual like composure can look to the organisation like acceptance. A senior executive who says little, asks little and challenges little may believe they are preserving dignity, when in practice they may be giving away the only period in the process where they still have influence.
From 6 April 2026, the consequences for employers failing to meet collective consultation obligations also become more significant, with Acas stating that a successful claim can lead to a protective award of up to 180 days’ full pay for each affected employee. That does not mean every executive redundancy should immediately become a legal dispute, but it does underline that the process has weight and should be treated with the seriousness it deserves.
The market outside is already crowded
There is a commercial reason to move while still inside the organisation. The market on the other side is slow, and senior career transition rarely rewards those who wait until everything is formally confirmed.
KPMG and REC’s June 2026 Report on Jobs recorded permanent placements falling at the quickest rate in ten months, with candidate availability rising sharply amid reports of redundancies. Employers were also relying more heavily on temporary staffing rather than committing to permanent hires. ONS data points in a similar direction, with the early estimate for May 2026 showing payrolled employees down 119,000 year on year, although that figure is provisional and subject to revision.
For senior leaders, those conditions matter because executive hiring does not behave like the wider job market. Roles are fewer, processes take longer, and many of the strongest opportunities never appear publicly. They move through search firms, investors, chairs, former colleagues, advisers and private conversations. A director or C-suite candidate who starts only when redundancy is confirmed is often entering the market late, without the positioning, evidence or relationships already in motion.
The advantage of acting early is not panic. It is control. Every week spent still employed, still carrying the title and still being paid is a week that can be used to gather evidence, update positioning, re-engage the right people and prepare the market story before circumstances dictate it.
Readiness should not begin with a panic CV
A senior CV written under pressure usually sounds like one. The tone becomes defensive, the evidence is incomplete, and the person often defaults to describing responsibility rather than proving value. The same happens on LinkedIn, where a profile that has barely changed in three years suddenly becomes active the week after a restructuring announcement. Recruiters and search consultants notice those patterns.
Effective readiness is quieter and more disciplined. It starts with a current record of impact: the margin protected, the function rebuilt, the acquisition integrated, the transformation delivered, the risk removed, the growth unlocked or the board confidence earned. Senior leaders often carry those details in their heads for too long, only to find that stress, time pressure and corporate sensitivity make them harder to retrieve when they are needed most.
A serious executive CV should read as a commercial case, not a job description. It should show where the individual has created value, changed direction, improved performance, strengthened governance, scaled capability or protected the organisation from risk. LinkedIn should support that positioning before the market has a reason to inspect it. The network should also be warm enough that, if circumstances change, the first conversations are not awkward reintroductions after years of silence.
This is the purpose of proper executive career management. It is not cosmetic rewriting, keyword stuffing or a rush to make someone look available. It is the work of keeping a senior leader’s market position current, credible and ready before it is needed.
Seniority does not remove exposure
Many executives underestimate their own vulnerability because they associate redundancy with lower levels of the organisation. In practice, senior roles can be highly exposed. They are expensive, visible and often easier to remove from an organisation chart when a board wants to demonstrate cost discipline or structural change.
The more strategic a role appears, the easier it can be for someone to argue that it no longer fits the future structure. A function can be merged, a region can be absorbed, a transformation brief can be declared complete, or a leadership layer can be removed in the name of simplification. None of that diminishes the individual’s record, but it does change the immediate career reality.
The executives who come through restructuring with the least damage tend to be the ones who recognise the warning signs early. They understand the process, gather their evidence, keep their relationships active and prepare their market narrative while they still have the confidence and credibility that come with being in post. They do not wait for redundancy to become official before they start behaving like someone with choices.
Frequently asked questions
Should I start looking for another role during redundancy consultation?
Yes, provided it is done discreetly, professionally and without breaching any obligations to your employer. Consultation exists because your role may not survive, so preparing your next move in parallel is sensible. Waiting until the final outcome may feel orderly, but it can leave you several weeks behind the market.
How is executive redundancy different from redundancy at other levels?
The legal process may be similar, but the market is very different. Senior roles are fewer, take longer to secure and are often never advertised. At executive level, your network, reputation, evidence of impact and positioning with search firms, chairs, investors and former colleagues are usually more important than the number of applications you submit.
Are large UK employers really planning this many redundancies?
Acas reported that 46 per cent of large employers said redundancies were likely between February 2026 and January 2027, based on a YouGov survey of senior decision makers. That is intention rather than certainty, and employer confidence can change, but it is still a serious indication of how cautious larger organisations have become.
When should I update my CV and LinkedIn profile?
Before there is a visible reason to do so. A senior CV prepared in a hurry often lacks the precision and commercial evidence needed at this level, while a LinkedIn profile that suddenly changes after a restructuring announcement can make the situation obvious. Keeping both current is one of the simplest forms of career insurance a senior leader has.
Redundancy at senior level needs managing early
The executives most at risk are not always those who are selected for redundancy. Often, they are the ones who saw enough signs to prepare but assumed the process was about other people until the meeting was already in the diary.
At senior level, redundancy is more than an employment event. It is a negotiation, a reputation moment and a market entry point, all happening at once. Managed early, it can become a controlled transition. Left too late, it can force even highly capable leaders into a crowded market with a rushed CV, a cold network and a story they have not yet learned how to tell.
Quiet dignity has its place in senior leadership. Quiet inaction is a different matter.
