Redundant - What happens next???

Mrs._Doubtfire

I am a regular poster on these boards but need to keep my identity hidden for the moment.


My husband had a meeting with his works last week and they were told that one of the staff members would have to be made redundant as they were just not making enough money to carry all the staff. This morning, he has received a letter saying that unfortunately he is the one that they are letting go. Obviously we are both totally gutted and in deep shock at the moment.

I will probably have lots more questions in the weeks to come but what sort of happens now. He has finished immediately because of the line of work that he is in.

He has got his redundancy package to come which is a weeks wages for every year he has worked for them plus they are giving him 3 months wages which is their normal terms.

We have saved all our married life to put away for our retirement, so we have a reasonable amount of savings. I presume that we have to live off the savings until it has all gone or can we claim for anything? My husband was the main wage earner but I have a small business that I run from home.

We are going to take a couple of days out to get over the shock of all of this. He has submitted his CV for a couple of jobs this afternoon but I suppose lots of people are in the same situation as us at the moment.

What else do we need to do - if anything. Any advice would be grateful.

Many thanks.

GOLFER

Hi there

Sorry to hear your news, can you add a couple of bits of info like his age, number of years with company etc

You will probably find if he earns over £380 per week this will be the cap for his redundancy payment, the number of weeks pay depends on his age and number of years service, if he earns under the £380 it will be probably be worked out on his average wage for the past 12 weeks including O/T and any bonuses, this will be free from tax and NIC. The other payment ie his PILON (pyt in lieu of notice) will be subjuect to tax. This is normally 1 week for each year worked upto a maximum of 12 (ie 3 months)

I dont really know much about JSA and benefits but i do know that if you do qualify there is a sliding scale deducted for savings over £6000.

Hope this helps a bit

Golfer

WeakHeart

Sorry to hear that you husband has lost his job.

Encourage your husband to fill in an online claim for JSA asap. At the least it keeps his NI stamp going and do it asap ads it gets the ball rolling they won't backdate anything.

As for the job hunting it is tough out there, people often report that they are not even receiving hearing anything having applied for jobs that they are very capable of so if this happens to your husband he shouldn't be shocked, it's just the way things are right now.

Have a couple of days together to get over the shock, and it is a shock even though it's happening all around. It takes time to recover but many people have later said that redundancy was a positive thing as they evaluated their lives and as a result made changes that made them much happier. It may not seem like it at the moment but you could be feeling the same in time.

Good luck

McKneff

Some one else may come along soon to answer this but i had heard on the boards that unless the Pilon is contractual then it is free of income tax (and NI)
as it is then treated as compensation and not pay in lieu of notice, Can anyone help on this one please.

anamenottaken

McKneff wrote: »

Some one else may come along soon to answer this but i had heard on the boards that unless the Pilon is contractual then it is free of income tax (and NI)
as it is then treated as compensation and not pay in lieu of notice, Can anyone help on this one please.

Whilst it is true that PILON may not be taxable if it is not contractual, the OP's husband's company seem to be paying whatever they normally do, so if it includes PILON then it would be considered contractual in this instance.

getmore4less

I would start with the consultation and selection process.

This does not seem to have been done properly no consultation from what you have said.
Was there a fare selction process

Any more detals?

Do you have legal cover on your house insurance that would cover employment issues. Get an opinion from them and ACAS..

If there are others that should have been in the same at risk pool then there may a chance of a potential ET case.

Ok asuming that it is fare ,

Check the redundancy(1week per year) is at full pay not statutory(£380 cap).

Check the contract for PILON and if they plan to tax it or not.

Also make sure the service is counted from the date he would have finished had he worked his 3 months notice, might give another year.

Sign on immediately and start claiming contributions JSA.

anamenottaken

Mrs._Doubtfire wrote: »

We have saved all our married life to put away for our retirement, so we have a reasonable amount of savings. I presume that we have to live off the savings until it has all gone or can we claim for anything? My husband was the main wage earner but I have a small business that I run from home.

Assuming he is not over 65, your husband will be able to sign on at the Jobcentre as soon as his employment has ended. In fact, he could probably phone ahead of time and arrange an appointment - but I don't know how their appointments are available at the moment.

As he has clearly been working for the last few years, he will have been paying NI contributions and I assume also that these will have been at least the minimum level to have a full contribution history. He would therefore be entitled to claim contributions-based Jobseekers Allowance. For that, there is no means testing. That is payable for up to six months if he happened not to get a job to start within that time.

It is only after six months that the savings and your earnings would be taken into account to assess income-related JSA.

Mrs._Doubtfire

Thank you for the replies.

My husband is 50 and has worked for his company for 12.5 years. They have worked out his redundancy at the £380 cap. We have worked it out on the Direct Gov website and they have worked it out exactly to the penny.

They were all called to a meeting last week, where they were all told that there would be a redundancy which I presume is the information meeting. Then he had an interview at the end of the week which would have been the consultation with the selection process being on a points basis taking into account several factors of the job.


Getmore4less - isn't the statutory £380 cap all that they would need to pay by law?

McKneff

As your husband is over the age of 41 his redundancy pay should be 1 and a half weeks per year from then till now and 1 week per year for the period before.
So if they say 1 week for each year they are shortchanging him.

getmore4less

Mrs._Doubtfire wrote: »

Getmore4less - isn't the statutory £380 cap all that they would need to pay by law?

Yes, I was replying to your post.
It was to clarify what they were gong to pay.

Now that he is over 41 the date for calculation is from the date he would have left is there a birthday in the 3 months notice period that would get another 1/2 week.

Did they take this into account?


Looks like there was consultation if they did go over the selection criteria and give him a chance to respond, good practice would be to give a couple of days to think and respond if this would be helpfull.
If cut and dry then it just delays things.

JSA is next so sign on.

GOLFER

HIS REDUNDANCY SHOULD BE 16.5 WEEKS @ £380 = £6270.00

Unless he is 51 withint he next three months he would be 51 or made up to 13 years service. eg if 51 then extra .5 week if 13 years service then extra 1 week.

Dont really know much about JSA but is it not the case that he wouldnt get anything for 1st 3 months as he is being paid PILON for that period.

thanks