According to a study by Acas, a third of employers are likely to make staff redundancies by January 2027. Royal Mail has announced plans to cut 2,500 jobs, and Jaguar Land Rover has revealed it will cut 4,000 jobs over the next two years. In response, the BFA has launched two free toolkits to help both employers and individuals navigate the transition.
What the toolkits contain
The toolkits include an overview of franchising, statistics about the size of the industry, guides to franchising terminology, advice on how to research a franchise opportunity, case studies and links to free online courses. They are available to download from the BFA’s website and the BFA will also be proactively sending the toolkits to firms announcing redundancies.
Information, not a sales pitch
CEO of the BFA Pip Wilkins QFP said: “We are not here to try to convince anyone to buy a franchise, far from it, but we do want people to know that franchising exists and could be a route into self-employment for them following redundancy.”
Wilkins continued: “As a sector that contributes £19.1 billion to the UK economy, and with members whose businesses encompass every conceivable industry from domiciliary home care to drain cleaning, we have a unique view of the financial health of the country and sadly we could see redundancies were on their way. As a result, we have built these free toolkits to support employers and those facing redundancy, to help them make informed choices at a difficult time. They are full of facts about the industry, questions they should ask, due diligence they should do and free educational courses they should take.”
Franchising: a safer route into business ownership
Franchising is well known as being a safer route into business ownership. According to the 2024 British Franchise Survey, sponsored by NIC Local, the industry has had a commercial failure rate of less than 6% for over 25 years, compared to 44% of all start-ups failing within the first three years.
A recent Question of the Month poll conducted by the BFA revealed that 19% of their franchisee members who responded bought their franchise after being made redundant.
Franchisee insight: redundancy after 24 years
BFA member Sarah Orchard, who bought her Pink Spaghetti PA Services franchise after being made redundant in January 2026, said: “I was aware of franchising, but it was not something I had considered until I was facing redundancy myself. After 24 years working for the same large corporate organisation, redundancy gave me the opportunity to really think about what I wanted the next stage of my career to look like. I knew I had a huge amount of experience and transferable skills, but I also knew I did not necessarily want to simply move into another corporate role.”
Orchard continued: “Redundancy can be a very unsettling time, particularly when you have spent so many years with the same employer, but it can also create an opportunity to reassess what you want from your working life. Take your time, do your research and do not feel that you have to replace the job you have lost with another version of the same thing. Think carefully about the skills and experience you have built up and how they could transfer into something completely different.”
The Redundancy Toolkits are available to download free from the BFA’s website at thebfa.org.
Key takeaways
- A study by Acas found that a third of employers are likely to make staff redundancies by January 2027, with cuts already announced at Royal Mail and Jaguar Land Rover. The BFA has launched two free toolkits in response.
- The BFA Redundancy Toolkits, one for employers and one for those facing redundancy, include an overview of franchising, industry statistics, terminology guides, research advice, case studies and links to free online courses.
- Pip Wilkins QFP, CEO of the BFA, is clear that the toolkits are informational: the BFA is not trying to convince anyone to buy a franchise, but wants people facing redundancy to know it exists as a potential route into self-employment.
- According to the 2024 British Franchise Survey, the industry has had a commercial failure rate of less than 6% for over 25 years, compared to 44% of all start-ups failing within the first three years.
- A BFA poll found that 19% of responding franchisee members bought their franchise after being made redundant. Sarah Orchard, who bought a Pink Spaghetti PA Services franchise after redundancy, advises others to take their time, do their research and think about how their skills could transfer.
