Redundancy pay negotiation possible?

[ubik]

I’ve been given notice that my role is to be made redundant. According to the statement I was given, I am only being given statutory redundancy pay plus notice in lieu.

The statement is titled “Illustrative Redundancy Statement” and says at the bottom that it is a guide so does that mean the actual amount could be different? If so, why did they not give me a statement for the actual amount?

A colleague on a slightly lower wage was given a much larger package – about double - when he was made redundant late last year. At that point he had worked there a year less than I have now.

He has kindly offered to provide me with full paperwork of his package. Others have been made redundant over the last year who I am also still in contact with and who all (as far as I know) received better packages.

The company is not in financial difficulty, it is basic restructuring. I have been told on record it is not disciplinary based and I never had any kind of performance warning and always had good yearly reviews.

Do I have any chance at all of negotiating a better package? I can deal with redundancy as an unfortunate fact of life but being given considerably less money than people with shorter service is a sickener.

There have been some changes at management level and in HR recently so different people could have drawn up the terms this time round.

I am due to meet HR the middle of next week. Should I contact them beforehand and ask them to confirm what my final amount will be, making reference to the prior redundancy payments?

I don’t even know where I stand on being allowed to discuss the terms or if my former colleagues are doing anything wrong in discussing theirs.
Any advice, legal or otherwise would be fantastic.

[ULA]

Re: Redundancy pay negotiation possible?

If you are in the middle of a redundancy consultation process and your position is only "at risk" currently and it has not been confirmed that your position is being made redundant, then it is standard good practice to advise an individual of what they may expect to receive in redundancy pay in the event that their position is made redundant. If this is the case it would be the reason you have been provided with an “Illustrative Redundancy Statement".

Initially you need to check that they have calculated your statutory redundancy payment correctly, your pay in lieu of notice and also do not forget payment for any accrued but untaken holiday.

In regard to the difference in what you believe is being offered to you compared to other colleagues who left earlier, it sounds like in previous redundancy situations the company has offered an "enhanced package" which is entirely at the discretion of the management. As you have indicated there has been a change in management and I would think that that they have made a decision to now only offer the statutory redundancy payment.

With regard to discussing the contents of redundancy payments made to previous colleagues I would be quite careful about this. You need to check there has not been a confidentiality clause put into the payment of an enhanced package, if there has then your colleagues should have abided by this and not disclosed that they received a greater than statutory payment. In which case it would be difficult for you to mention their enhanced payment to try to negotiate better terms without "putting them in it" so to speak.

If there was no such clause in the terms of their redundancy payment I would suggest you ask at the meeting with HR, whether the company only pays the statutory redundancy package as you have heard (not mentioning specific ex-colleagues) that in the recent past there has been an enhanced package paid and would this be applicable in your case?

[ubik]

Re: Redundancy pay negotiation possible?

Thanks so much for the comprehensive reply, it's all good to know.

"Enhanced package" is the term I couldn't think of before. I've now spoken to a couple of former colleagues who have confirmed both the enhanced package and that there was no confidentiality agreement. They were also given money to pay for a solicitor to look over their statements.

Hopefully I will get this once the actual redundancy is confirmed (the consultation is just a formality). If there are any issues, would the case here http://www.springhouselaw.com/update...edundancy-pay/ give me a hope of claiming more?

[ULA]

Re: Redundancy pay negotiation possible?

In the case you have referred it had become "custom and practice" by virtue of the fact enhanced packages had been applied in redundancy situations for over 20 years. So if in the situation with your company this has only been applied recently then the argument may not be so strong, plus if the enhancements for your ex-colleagues have not been consistent on the method of calculation then this will weaken the point.