Being made redundant but offered to freelance.

I work colleague of mine is being made redundant, the role is finance manager. She is our only financial person, so does everything. She was given a letter stating that the role of finance manager is being made redundant and thus her work role. But then asks to stay as financial coordinator as freelancer only working 2.5 days a week.

are these roles typically not the same ? As she is our only financial person she undertakes the roles of a coordinator. So my real question is, is this legal? Making one role and worker redundant but then asking for freelance work doing the exact same job ?

Edit: this is in England