Redundancy in Great Britain England, Scotland & Wales

If you are an employee with 2 years' continuous service, you are entitled to statutory redundancy pay. It is worked out from your age during each full year of service, counting back from your leaving date:

• Half a week's pay for each full year you were under 22.
• One week's pay for each full year you were 22 to 40.
• One and a half weeks' pay for each full year you were 41 or older.
• Only your last 20 years count, and weekly pay is capped at £751, so the maximum is £22,530. A 45-year-old with 15 years' service on £600 a week gets 17 weeks: £10,200.

• Consultation: your employer should consult you individually. If 20 or more people at one site are being made redundant within 90 days, collective consultation must start at least 30 days (20–99 people) or 45 days (100+) before the first dismissal.
• Protective award: if your employer fails to consult collectively, a tribunal can award up to 180 days' pay for dismissals from 6 April 2026 (it was 90).
• Suitable alternative job: if you're offered one, you get a 4-week trial. Unreasonably turning down a suitable job can cost you your redundancy pay.
• Time off to look for work: with 2 years' service by the end of your notice, you can take reasonable paid time off to job-hunt or train (pay is capped at 40% of a week's pay across the notice period).
• Pregnancy and family leave: you get priority for any suitable vacancy from telling your employer you are pregnant until 18 months after the birth (or adoption placement).

Statutory notice is 1 week if you have worked for 1 month to 2 years, then 1 week per full year, up to 12 weeks. Your contract may give more.

Pay in lieu of notice (known as post-employment notice pay) is always taxed and has National Insurance deducted, like normal pay.

The first £30,000 of statutory and enhanced redundancy pay combined is free of income tax, and there is no employee National Insurance on redundancy pay even above that. Anything over £30,000 is taxed at your normal rate.

Notice pay, holiday pay, final salary and bonuses are taxed as normal earnings.

If you don't work again for 4 weeks or more and aren't claiming a taxable benefit like JSA, you can claim a tax refund with form P50. Otherwise any overpaid tax comes back after the tax year ends on 5 April.

New Style Jobseeker's Allowance depends on your National Insurance record, not your savings. It pays up to £95.55 a week if you are 25 or over (£75.65 under 25) for up to 182 days. Savings and statutory redundancy pay don't affect it.

Universal Credit is means-tested. Redundancy pay counts as savings: over £16,000 you can't get it, and between £6,000 and £16,000 it is reduced.

• Up to 7 waiting days apply at the start of a JSA claim.
• Pay in lieu of notice counts as earnings until your notice would have ended, so JSA starts after that. Holiday pay paid within 4 weeks of leaving also delays it.
• Pension income over £50 a week is deducted from JSA.
• For Universal Credit, final pay, notice pay and holiday pay count as earnings in the month you get them, and a tax refund counts as income. Claim the day after your final pay arrives.

You can claim unfair dismissal if the redundancy wasn't genuine or the selection or consultation was unfair. Right now you usually need 2 years' service; this drops to 6 months for dismissals on or after 1 January 2027, when the cap on compensation is also removed.

Before going to an employment tribunal you must contact Acas for early conciliation, which pauses the time limit and can last up to 12 weeks.

The Redundancy Payments Service can pay statutory redundancy pay, up to 8 weeks' unpaid wages, up to 6 weeks' holiday pay and up to 12 weeks' statutory notice pay, each capped at £751 a week. Apply within 6 months using the case number from the insolvency practitioner. Helpline: 0330 331 0020.