HR redundancy figures are wildly different from mine.

ChasingtheWelshdream

Hi,

I have asked HR for a breakdown of their calculations but in the meantime, am wondering if I am missing something fundamental. 

I have 16 years service and our policy states 1.5 weeks pay per year. I earn circa £460 per week gross. I have calculated this by multiplying my monthly gross x 12 and then dividing by 52.

By my reckoning, 16x1.5 =24 weeks pay. Multiplied by £460 = £11,040.

HR have provided me with a figure of approx £4.5k. I can’t figure this out at all. 

I have even put my salary into the .gov website and it calculates around £8.5k statutory

Am I missing something fundamental such as “weekly pay” is actually an average over the years, and minus tax/insurance/pension contributions - not my actual pay? Or something similar?

I won’t get a reply from HR until Tuesday so am wracking my brains in the meantime. Am I correct, or is HR?

kimwp

Are there any caps? When redundancy offers happen at my company, they are capped at 12 weeks of pay and a weekly value. (I think it's that statutory min).

El_Torro

If you have (or at least have read) the policy then if it doesn't mention caps then hopefully there aren't any.

They shouldn't be taking any tax off the redundancy payment since the first £30k of a redundancy payment is tax free.

Unfortunately any comments we make are just guesswork until you get clarification from HR. 

ChasingtheWelshdream

Thanks both. I have the policy and it says settlements  are capped at 30 weeks with no cap on weekly pay. 

Originally HR gave me that £4,5k figure, which I queried and asked for confirmation that my whole service had been used (I should have continuous service due to a transfer). They confirmed the 16 years service and that the figure is correct. I am now awaiting a breakdown to see how they reached that figure and have provided my own rationale. That is as far as I have got so far.

I know the first £30k is tax-free, but am unsure if I am correct to use my gross salary into my calculations? And whether it is somehow an average, as I was previously on a much lower salary for a few years (I am only part-time hence the lowish figures). 

My union have a dim view of the company in terms of how they historically handle redundancy, and my rep told me they will try to avoid paying what they should. But as the figures appears less than statutory redundancy according to .gov, that is what makes me think I must be misunderstanding things somehow.