Redundancy and Retention payment

[B16JUS]

Im after some advice from anyone in the know or with experience.

I've received the bad news that quite a few hundred of the staff at work, including myself, are going to be made redundant within the next 20 months. The end result being every single one of us gone.

HR today told us that there will be some retention offers to hold certain staff and stop them from leaving, as we still need to be operational until the end (basically the office is moving from London to Paris).

My question is, as its still early doors and i have nothing in writing, How do retention payments work? If an amount is agreed, is it the case that a new contract is signed for X amount of months? Also does this retention payment affect any redundancy offer at the end? Or it completely separate and wont have any impact in any offer.

I've read lots of info regarding uk redundancy etc. Am i right in thinking, that whatever is offered the first 30k is tax and NI free? Anything over is then taxable.

Also i have read that you should be issued a 30 day at risk notice?

Any comments or advice would be great.

Thanks

J

[CurvaParabolica]

We've just done something similar, although on a much smaller scale (one dept) and on a much smaller timescale.

The 30 days you refer to will come later - that's the official consultation period and would form the final 30 days of your employment with the company, during which time they should consult with you individually regarding the situation and do what they can to help you find alternative work. Also, you are right RE tax; the first £30k of severance payments are tax free; anything above that is taxable. Note your base salary and holiday accrual up to your final day of employment is taxable as normal.

Retentions are usually formal agreements that would be signed by employer and employee; they are not a new contract but a binding agreement that if you remain employed in your job until a specific date, you will be paid an agreed amount/bonus. If they are doing a wide-scale retention project, chances are everyone's bonus will be based on the same calculation, i.e. 2x monthly salary or such. Retention bonuses should have no impact on severance payments, as severance payments should follow specific calculations that stand alone to everything else.

Given the workforce is several hundred there will be employee representatives involved in the process who will basically be your eyes and ears, a bit like a union rep. Check out the ACAS website for the benchmark redundancy process if you want further info.

Edited by CurvaParabolica on Wednesday 1st February 21:12