Hi Pat, Been there! They always time it to happen just before Christmas.
When it happened to me in 1997 I had a word with a friend in the legal profession who put me in touch with an employment expert in his company. He gave me all the info I needed to fight the thing on my own for free over the telephone.
I also had any number of Employment Agency Contacts built up over the years, and started calling in favours.
The outcome was that I had a temp posting in my normal line of business in three days from being given notice and I also talked my redundancy package up to more than double the original offer (they couldn't risk a tribunal!)
Also, as I was 60 at the time, the rules of the Pension Scheme were such that my departure had to be considered 'Early Retirement' and my pension under the scheme had to paid out immediately and enhanced to age 63.
I temped my way through the 5 years to normal Retirement age, during which time I was out of work for just one day, and had a load of fun, If you are not employed by the bastards, you don't have to take the bull!
My main advice would be to grab any work that comes your way, you have a better chance of progressing if you are in the tent....... well you know the rest of the saying!

FC