Help - redundancy

[Kanga13]

I've posted this in legal but thought I might get some help here.
I work in a school and they announced on Monday that they are making some of us redundant. I understand this is due to cuts so that's not my problem (although I wish this wasn't happening), however they are saying that if we are made redundant either forced or voluntary then we can't work for five weeks after the date of redundancy.
Is this correct? From what was said the process could take a bit of time so the redundancy will come into force at the end of August, however most job start dates are September so this rule would make it very difficult to secure work until January.
Can anyone please help me understand this, have I misunderstood?

[LovingWINE]

Think you can't work if you receive payment in lieu of notice for the amount of time your notice period would've been...or something like that!