Look deeper and you will find the answers.
It is naive in the extreme to believe that there will be a massive retraining program in the event of redundancies. If the downturn is on a "senior type", I believe no one on a "junior type" will allow themselves to be demoted but will make arrangements to keep their current position.
The new laws state that people employed by companies with more than 100 staff keep right to claim unfair dismissal, but workers in large companies are not safe either. Employees will not be regarded as unfairly dismissed if employers state their sacking was for "operational reasons."
"Operational reasons" is quite a broad term an IMHO would include massive retraining costs at a time of financial difficulty for a business.