6 Things You Should Get When You’re Being Made Redundant
If you are made redundant and you’ve worked for your employer for more than 2 years, there are things your employer is legally required to do.
If you are dismissed because the job you do is no longer needed, you are being made redundant. This normally happens when all or part of the business you work for is closing, restructuring, or moving to a new location.
Here are six things you should get when you are being made redundant.
1. A Consultation
Your employer must have a meaningful consultation with you, even if it wouldn’t make a difference to whether you are made redundant. You must be offered an individual meeting to discuss your options and be told why you are being made redundant. If your employer is making more than 20 people redundant, they must also hold a collective consultation. If your employer only meets with you to tell you they are making you redundant, this does not count as an individual consultation.
2. A Fair Process
Your employer must tell you the process they will follow, how people will be chosen for redundancy and how long the process will take. The process cannot be discriminatory. This means the reason for your redundancy must not be based on a protected characteristic, such as race, gender, age, or disability. For example, you shouldn’t be made redundant because you are pregnant or on maternity leave or because you are closest to retirement.
3. Redundancy Pay
The amount of redundancy pay you’ll get is based on your wage, age and length of service. It’s always worth checking what you should be paid as employers sometimes get it wrong. You can either use the government’s online redundancy pay calculator (click here)or give Citizens Advice a call on 01282 616 750. The calculator will tell you the legal minimum you should get, but you should check your contract too, as your employer might offer more.
4. Your Notice Period or Payment in Lieu
You are entitled to one week of notice for every year you have worked for your employer, up to a maximum of twelve weeks. Your employer may ask you to work through your notice period. Alternatively, they may pay you the full amount you would have been paid had you worked, and end your employment immediately.
Call Citizens Advice if you have any concerns or questions about this. We can check your entitlement and confirm you’re getting what you should.
5. Holiday Pay
You should take any holidays you have left or be paid the equivalent amount when your jobs ends. Your employer can ask you to take holidays during your notice period, however they must follow the normal procedure for asking you to take holidays. This means they must give you enough notice, which is normally twice as long as the length of time they are asking you to take as holiday.
Redundancy, notice and holiday pay should all be based on your normal rate of pay, not what you have been getting while on furlough.
6. Time Off to Look for Work
Once you have been given the date your employment will end, your employer must allow you reasonable time off to look for work. What is reasonable will depend on your circumstances. You should be paid your normal hourly rate for this time off; however you can only be paid up to 40% of a normal week’s work. In other words, if you normally work 40 hours in a week, you should be given 16 hours to look for work. (Note: this is the total amount you are allowed, not the amount you can take each week).
Where should I go for advice?
Call 01282 616 750 and ask for an appointment with a member of our HMRC team.
Burnley and Pendle Citizens Advice can confirm everything you are entitled to and advise on the next steps you should take. We will also offer a full benefit check to make sure you claim everything you can and explain how any payments you receive during your redundancy will affect your state benefits.
Disclaimer: This information was correct at time of publishing on 4 May 2021 and is provided as a guide only. It is not a recommendation to take a specific action and we suggest you speak to an adviser if you have any doubt about how the law applies to you.
