Made redundant? Here's exactly how much you're owed.

What statutory redundancy pay actually is

Statutory redundancy pay is the minimum the law says your employer must pay you when your job is made redundant — that is, when the role itself is disappearing, not when you're sacked for something you did or you resign. It's a one-off lump sum based on your age, your length of service and your weekly pay.

A few things to hold onto from the start:

• It's the legal floor. Many employers pay more than this through a contractual or "enhanced" redundancy scheme — check your contract, staff handbook or any redundancy policy. You get whichever is higher, never less than the statutory amount.
• It's separate from money you're owed for work done, your notice period (or pay in lieu of notice), and any untaken holiday. Those are paid on top.
• It covers England, Wales and Scotland under the Employment Rights Act 1996. Northern Ireland has its own near-identical scheme — same age bands and caps — via nidirect.

Who qualifies

You're normally entitled to statutory redundancy pay if both of these apply:

• You're an employee (not a self-employed contractor or an agency worker on certain contracts), and
• You've worked for your current employer for 2 years or more of continuous service.

You will not get statutory redundancy pay if:

• You're dismissed for misconduct — that's a dismissal, not a redundancy.
• Your employer offers to keep you on, or offers you suitable alternative work which you turn down without good reason.
• You fall into an excluded group — crown servants, members of the armed forces or police services, share fishermen, former registered dock workers, certain apprentices not employed at the end of their training, and domestic servants who are a member of the employer's immediate family.

The formula — age bands × full years

For every full year you worked, you get a number of weeks' pay that depends on how old you were during that year:

Then two caps apply:

• Service is capped at 20 years — only your most recent 20 years count.
• Weekly pay is capped at £751 for redundancies on or after 6 April 2026 (it's reviewed each April, and was £700 the year before). Even if you earn more, the sum uses £751 as your week's pay.

Your "week's pay" is your average weekly earnings over the 12 weeks before your redundancy notice (if you were on furlough at a reduced rate, the calculation uses what you would normally have earned). Putting the caps together, the maximum statutory redundancy pay for a 6 April 2026 redundancy is £751 × 20 × 1.5 = £22,530.

A worked example

Here's how the sum works in practice.

Because Priya earns more than £751 a week, the cap applies and her week's pay is treated as £751. If her actual weekly pay were below £751, the sum would use her real figure instead. And because £11,265 is well under £30,000, the whole amount is tax-free.

The tax position

This is the part people most often get wrong, so it's worth being precise:

• Statutory redundancy pay is tax-free, and no National Insurance is due on it.
• The first £30,000 of your whole redundancy package — statutory pay plus any extra "ex-gratia" redundancy your employer adds — is tax-free. Anything over £30,000 is taxed.
• Money you're owed that isn't redundancy — your wages, your notice pay (or pay in lieu of notice), and any untaken holiday — is taxed and has National Insurance taken off as normal pay.

Full detail is on the GOV.UK Tax and National Insurance page.

What to do now

1. Work out your figure with the free GOV.UK calculator (box above), so you know what you should receive.
2. Check what you're paid. Your employer should pay statutory redundancy pay automatically when your job ends — normally on your final payday. Compare your payslip against your calculation, and don't forget you should also get notice pay and any untaken holiday on top.
3. If they won't pay (but can afford to): get free ACAS advice on 0300 123 1100, write to your employer setting out what you're owed, and if it isn't resolved you can take a claim to an employment tribunal — you must start ACAS early conciliation first, and there are strict time limits (usually 3 months less one day from when your job ends).
4. If your redundancy was unfair — for example you weren't properly consulted, the selection was discriminatory, or it wasn't a genuine redundancy — the same route applies: ACAS early conciliation, then a tribunal. Our employment hub walks through your wider rights.
5. If your employer has gone bust (insolvent): you can claim your statutory redundancy pay — plus unpaid wages, notice and holiday pay — directly from the government's Redundancy Payments Service via GOV.UK.

Money to claim while you're between jobs

Redundancy pay is a lump sum, not an income — so check what else you can claim while you look for work:

• New Style JSA — if you've paid Class 1 National Insurance as an employee, you can claim New Style Jobseeker's Allowance for up to 182 days. It's not means-tested, so your redundancy pay and savings don't stop it.
• Universal Credit — a household benefit covering rent, children and low income. Note that redundancy pay counts as savings/capital for Universal Credit, so a large payout can affect it — but it's still worth checking, especially once savings fall.
• Everything else — Council Tax Reduction, help with health costs and more often go unclaimed when a job ends. Run our free benefits check.

Free UK support

• GOV.UK — gov.uk — Redundancy: your rights, and the free redundancy pay calculator.
• ACAS — free, impartial advice on redundancy, notice and tribunals: 0300 123 1100 or acas.org.uk.
• Redundancy Payments Service — claim when your employer is insolvent: gov.uk.
• Citizens Advice — free help with redundancy disputes and claims: citizensadvice.org.uk.
• Your wider rights at work — our employment hub covers notice, unfair dismissal, consultation and tribunals.