Redundancy pay: check your age, service, weekly pay and relevant date

Ordinary statutory redundancy pay is for an eligible employee with at least two years of continuous employment. Employment status, the reason for dismissal and refusing suitable alternative work can change entitlement. A contract can offer enhanced pay or cover shorter service even when the statutory amount is £0.

Your continuous-service start can be earlier than your latest contract. A business transfer, an employer change that preserves continuity or some breaks can affect it. Ask HR for the recognised start and its reason. Do not reset service automatically to a transfer date. See GOV.UK redundancy rights and Northern Ireland guidance.

The calculator assumes ordinary eligibility and the continuous-service dates you enter. It does not decide a status dispute, misconduct dismissal or whether an alternative job was suitable. Get those questions resolved before treating a calculated figure as an amount the employer must pay.

Take the period ending on the statutory relevant date and count complete service years backwards, up to 20. Each year gets its own age band. A year in which you were below age 22 at its start counts half a week; ages 22–40 count one week; age 41 and over count one and a half. Your age today does not set the multiplier for every earlier year.

Both the first and final days of the employment period count. For example, employment from 13 November 2024 through 12 November 2026 completes two years; finishing on 11 November is one day short. The legal period and backward-year method are in Employment Rights Act section 211 and section 162. The tool shows each included year so that a birthday or service boundary is visible.

Partial years do not add a further fraction of a service year. Part-time status does not turn a complete year into part of a year: use complete service years and the worker’s actual statutory weekly pay.

For fixed normal hours and pay, start with normal gross weekly contractual pay. Use actual part-time pay, not the full-time equivalent. A fixed monthly salary of £2,600 ordinarily corresponds to £2,600 × 12 ÷ 52 = £600 a week before any statutory cap.

Variable hours, overtime and commission need the applicable statutory week’s-pay calculation. An average generally uses the relevant 12 paid weeks, looking back past weeks with no pay where required, rather than assuming every payment in the last three calendar months belongs in the average. Which payments and normal hours count depends on the contract and statutory rules. Ask payroll for the 12 weeks used and the treatment of overtime or commission.

If you are on maternity or other qualifying family leave with reduced or no pay, the statutory redundancy calculation should use the appropriate normal pay, not simply the smaller leave payment. Obtain payroll’s confirmed week’s pay before using the tool. See Acas on working out redundancy pay and the employer calculation guidance.

For statutory relevant dates from 6 April 2026, the weekly cap is £751 in England, Scotland and Wales, and £783 in Northern Ireland. With a maximum 30 weeks’ entitlement, the maximum statutory payments are £22,530 and £23,490 respectively. The prior caps, for relevant dates from 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026, are £719 in GB and £749 in NI.

The cap is a ceiling, not a guaranteed weekly amount. A worker on £450 a week uses £450. An enhanced contractual scheme can use a different weekly limit or no cap; work that out separately. The relevant date determines the statutory cap, not the day you read this guide or receive an instalment.

See the GB 2026 increase of limits order and Northern Ireland 2026 order. The calculator stops at the end of its verified date window instead of assuming a future annual cap.

Suppose you were born on 12 November 1981, started continuous employment on 13 November 2011 and have a relevant date of 12 November 2026. You complete 15 years. Count backwards: four complete years start at ages 41 or over and count 1.5 weeks each; the other eleven count one week. Entitlement is 4 × 1.5 + 11 = 17 weeks.

At £600 weekly pay, below both caps, statutory redundancy is 17 × £600 = £10,200. At £900 weekly pay, the GB result is 17 × £751 = £12,767; the NI result is 17 × £783 = £13,311.

For a younger worker born 12 November 1996, with service 13 November 2016–12 November 2026 and pay of £450, two complete years start below age 22 and eight start at ages 22–29. The entitlement is 2 × 0.5 + 8 = nine weeks: £4,050. Multiplying all ten years by a single current-age factor would overstate it.

If you work your statutory notice, the ordinary employment end is generally the relevant date. If you are dismissed immediately without the statutory notice you were entitled to receive, the statutory calculation can extend service to the date on which that notice would have ended. Payment in lieu of notice does not mean the entire contractual notice period is automatically added.

Ordinary statutory notice is one week after one month’s service and below two years, then a week per completed year from two years, capped at 12 weeks. For example, service beginning 20 November 2017 and immediate dismissal on 1 October 2026 produces eight statutory notice weeks. Adding 56 days gives 26 November 2026 as the relevant date, crossing the ninth service anniversary.

If some notice was worked, payroll must confirm the appropriate extension; do not add a full notice period again. Our tool offers either a confirmed relevant date or the ordinary case where none of the statutory notice was worked. Dismissal disputes, a changing notice entitlement or exceptional continuity need individual confirmation. See official notice rules and Acas’s relevant-date explanation.

Ask: “Please show the continuous-service start, statutory relevant date, completed years counted backwards with the age multiplier for each, normal or averaged week’s pay, the country-specific cap and statutory total. Please identify contractual enhancement, notice/PILON, holiday, wages and bonus separately, with the PENP calculation and payroll tax treatment.”

Compare the written result with your contract and the year-by-year tool output. A difference may come from the relevant date, a pay component or the contractual scheme rather than arithmetic. The package tax guide explains why a total below £30,000 can still contain taxable earnings. The final-pay guide helps you check wages and unused holiday.

If payment is refused, missing or the employer is insolvent, seek the correct official route promptly. Time limits can be short: use GOV.UK’s claim guidance and Acas in GB, or nidirect and the Labour Relations Agency in Northern Ireland. Keep the redundancy letter, pay records, contract and written calculation together.