I asked if anyone knew if there was legislation which governed such an instance. It's not my employer and while they have sought vol. redundancies, they are not struggling. It is in fact a large employer and it seems, from what I'm told, to only happen in certain branches of the organization.
Thanks Purple, on hearing it from a friend I also thought it extremely unfair and bad form - was just hoping to find some sort of statutory backing to investigate further. I'll get and to the Dept. ETI on Monday to satisfy my own curiosity.