The Insolvency Service has just published guidance for solvent businesses that need to make staff redundant but cannot afford to make the payments. You can find the guidance here

The Redundancy Payments Service (RPS) will make the payments on the employer’s behalf but it is a loan that will need to be repaid. You will need to contact the RPS to see if you qualify and what the repayment terms are, but if you need to make staff redundant but can’t afford to pay now then this could be an option to buy some time.

As with all loans you will need to be mindful that they have to be repaid. This means that you will need to demonstrate that the business can afford to repay the loans in due course by preparing a cashflow forecast