If you are being made redundant then you are entitled to statutory redundancy pay as an absolute minimum provided you have been working with your current employer for two years or more and here we look at what that could mean for you.

You should not have to claim redundancy as it is the employers??™ duty to pay it to you and if they don??™t you can take them to an employment tribunal.

As for what it is you might get it all depends on the employer as some will increase the statutory redundancy payment to a higher level and you should ask them what their redundancy terms are as one of your very first questions.

You are not entitled to redundancy, however, if you are given an offer of alternative work by your employer which is suitable for you but you turn it down. Likewise, if you take a new job even before your consultation ends then this may also affect your redundancy pay.

Statutory redundancy pay can also be claimed if you have been laid of for more than 4 weeks consecutively or six non-consecutive weeks in a 13 week period.

? As well as your statutory redundancy pay (the amount we come to in a moment) you are also entitled to your notice pay. What usually happens in this situation is you are told to leave as receive pay in lieu of notice. Your notice could be a week or it could be a year so check in your contract as it will be in there.

One thing you must get from your employer on termination of your employment is a written statement detailing your redundancy pay, so ask for it if it is not given to you.

If the worst does happen and your employer goes out of business you can actually apply for a statutory redundancy payment via the National Insurance Fund. You then need to fill our an RP1 Form (available in our Redundancy Forms section).

Statutory redundancy pay is worked out in the UK as a week for every year of continuous full service with the same company.

The amount of statutory redundancy pay you get depends on a number of things. These are:

• how long you've worked for your employer
• your age
• your weekly pay.

You have the right to the following amount of money:

• half a week??™s pay for each complete year of employment when you were below the age of 22
• a full week??™s pay for each complete year of employment when you were between the age of 22 and 40
• a week and a half??™s pay for each complete year of employment when you were above the age of 41.

Employment is counted right up to the final day of your notice, which can mean you get a little more than you expect but you cannot get statutory pay for any more than 20 years of employment.

In terms of the overall amount you should expect there is one slight issue, especially if you are a higher earner as a week??™s pay??™ is actually limited to ??350 a week, even if you earn more.

A week??™s pay does not include overtime pay unless the overtime was regular and you have to do it as part of your job.

If your earnings vary each week, an average of the 12-week period leading up to the redundancy is used..

If you are worried about being made redundant act now to obtain redundancy cover ??“ a specialist insurance that will provide you with income protection should the worst happen. That way you know that your bills will be paid while you search for another job. Follow the link here to our redundancy cover deals to get the cheapest deal you can.

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