False redundancy on a grand scale

[seeker_of_truth]

The company I work for (large creative agency in London), is forcing through a change management agenda, driven out of NY.

As a result of this, many of the old guard are being squeezed out. In the last 5 months we have seen at least 10 senior people being 'made redundant', obviously each one a backroom deal with compromise agreement, confidentiality etc etc. These people have been picked off one at a time. I am likely to be next.

The trouble is that none of these 'redundancies' were actual redundancies, each role has been replaced by new people with exactly the same organograms and roles and responsibilities. Many of these people have come in the very next day, after the other person has left. Yes they have a slightly different title "Head of Marketing" versus SVP Marketing, but apart from that, everything else remains the same.

As I understand it, the first £30,000 paid as a redundancy payment is tax free, and its obvious that some kind of massive tax fraud is occuring here.

Does anybody know if there is any precedent with companies being found out and charged for this offence?


Thank you

Seeker of Truth

[mariefab]

Re: False redundancy on a grand scale

Although these terminations are being called redundancies in conversations before the compromise agreements are made; unless you know that they are still so described in the written agreements you can't know that a fraud is taking place.

The £30,000 tax free benefit doesn't only apply to redundancy payments. It also applies to ex-gratia payments made on the termination of employment.

If, when they get to the compromise agreements, the terminations are described as mutually agreed rather than redundancies there's no fraud here.