In the UK, what's the usual redundancy payment?

January 6, 2007 2:51 AM

I was recently made redundant from a job I'd worked at for 3½ years. Under UK law then, I was due a redundancy payoff of three times my weekly wage, up to a maximum of £290 weekly wage. From my reading though, an employer could be generous and pay three times the actual wage if it was over £290 - and I'd swear this was what happened the other time I was made redundant. But what experiences have others had?

(And, not to worry: I start a new job Monday)

posted by Auz to Law & Government (4 answers total)

I've been on both sides of a redundancy, and from my dealings with HR know the sums are solely at the employers discretion. Banking seems a little more generous though; it happened to me in mid 2002 and my erstwhile employer gave me the equivalent of about two years net to walk away. That was fair enough, as I'd been with the firm for a little over ten years, worked for them in three countries and was made redundant in the UK (I'm American).

From comparing notes with others who got it at the same time, it seemed any non British national was treated very, very well. The Solicitor I consulted to review the paperwork said the last thing this particular bank wanted was for The Home Office to notice they were importing staff and depositing them here in large numbers (over 10K globally were made redundant that year by this single firm).

Sounds like you landed on your feet! Best of luck to you.
posted by Mutant at 4:06 AM on January 6, 2007

After two years service, the statutory minimum one weeks pay / year worked comes into force. As Mutant says, some employers are more generous - I was given three months pay to walk away from a job I'd had for only a year. More good news; your redundancy money, up to £30,000, is tax-free!
posted by punilux at 5:07 AM on January 6, 2007

There's a calculator here to help you work out the statutory redundancy pay. I hope your employer is more generous, although it isn't obliged to pay more than the minimum required by law.
posted by essexjan at 9:34 AM on January 6, 2007

When it happened to me I got 4 weeks salary + another weeks salary per year I'd been there. They're only obliged to give you statutory redundancy pay though.
posted by crocomancer at 10:41 AM on January 6, 2007