Agreeing to move redundancy date

Large scale redundancy situation with consultation since January. Served notice last week with contract terminated in May with PILON to make up the shortfall in notice.

Fully happy with this.

Company have now asked if I will consider signing up to a retention period. Choice of two dates you choose which one you want to stay until. They are offering a small pay rise then at your new leaving date they will pay enhanced redundancy recalculated to take into account the new salary and extra service if an anniversary is passed, the same number of weeks PILON recalculated at new salary plus a retention bonus the size of which is based upon which of the two dates you choose to sign up until.

As I had nothing planned for the next few months other than a holiday which can still go ahead as I have annual leave and job hunting I am tempted to stay as it will take me through a service anniversary which together with the retention bonus will increase my package quite nicely!

What, if any, pitfalls should I be aware of?

Comments

  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post I've helped Parliament
    Forumite
    Biggest risk is they change their mind and decide to keep you.

    what used to happen in my sector is the companies would do the clean break make all the payments and get you back on contract, places seem reluctant to do this now.

    If the company has a history of keeping to its agreements, you like the place enough to stay a bit longer and it's more money I would take the offer unless I had a good job to go to.

    given they are doing this as an optional offer with enhanced package it sounds like they are decent enough, they could just change the termination dates with no extras if they wanted.


    What I would do is negotiate the PILON payment as part of the compensation package as there is no need for this to be taxable as there is now probably plenty of time to do a full notice period and no need for any PILON.

    If already over £30k tax free it won't make a big difference

    The retention bonus will(should) be taxable.
  • RikM
    RikM Posts: 810
    First Anniversary First Post
    Forumite
    One observation from my own experience : it seems to be easier to get a job if you are in a job.
    Job hunting while out of work - it appears to count against you with employers/agencies. That may not even be a deliberate thing. Just unconscious bias.
  • WYSPECIAL
    WYSPECIAL Posts: 635
    First Post Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    What I would do is negotiate the PILON payment as part of the compensation package as there is no need for this to be taxable as there is now probably plenty of time to do a full notice period and no need for any PILON.

    If already over £30k tax free it won't make a big difference

    The retention bonus will(should) be taxable.

    Yes they have already said the retention bonus will be taxable. In theory they don't have to pay PILON as they were originally paying it as contractual notice is 12 weeks and they were only giving 4. If I agree the earliest of the two date options it means they are giving 24 weeks notice.

    I think they just realised that if they didn't offer to still pay it few would take up the offer as they would be working the first 8 weeks of the retention period for no extra reward.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post I've helped Parliament
    Forumite
    MY old place just did 100% PILON to avoid any issues and complications working who got what as termination dates were based on when you could go(handover etc.).

    If they need a few people to stay that may be a new negotiating option everyone gets 100% PILON but you are flexible on the end date to meet business needs if needed.

    With pushing out the dates 5 months+ the real question is why are they making people redundant now when they could have just waited
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.4K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards