Redundancy Rights UK: Statutory Pay, Notice & Consultation

Data last checked on 8 October 2026.

Checked against legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK and Acas. Edited by Steven Butler.

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Redundancy is a form of dismissal from your job. It happens when employers need to reduce their workforce. You will normally be entitled to statutory redundancy pay if you are an employee and you have been working for your current employer for 2 years or more. You are also entitled to a consultation with your employer, and you must be selected for redundancy in a fair way.

Key points

✓You normally need 2 years' continuous employment to qualify for statutory redundancy pay.
✓A week's pay is capped at £751 (2026/27), making the maximum payout £22,530. In Northern Ireland, a week's pay for statutory redundancy pay is capped at £783 (2026/27), giving a maximum statutory redundancy payment of £23,490.
✓Statutory minimum notice is at least 1 week after 1 month to 2 years of service, then 1 week for each year of service from 2 to 12 years, up to a maximum of 12 weeks after 12 or more years.
✓Collective consultation rules apply where an employer proposes 20 or more redundancies within any 90-day period at one establishment: a minimum consultation period of 30 days for 20 to 99 proposed redundancies, and 45 days for 100 or more.
✓If your problem happened on or after 1 October 2026, you have 6 months minus 1 day for most claims, and if it happened before 1 October 2026, you have 3 months minus 1 day for most claims.

What counts as redundancy?

Under section 139 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employee who is dismissed is taken to be dismissed by reason of redundancy if the dismissal is wholly or mainly attributable to one of these:

Yes: The employer has ceased or intends to cease to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was employed
Yes: The employer has ceased or intends to cease to carry on that business in the place where the employee was employed
Yes: The requirements of the business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish

For a redundancy to be genuine, the employer must demonstrate that the employee's job will no longer exist. If the main reason for your dismissal is something else, for example your performance or conduct, it is not redundancy, and it may be unfair dismissal. Redundancy only applies to those with the legal status of employee. You are not likely to be an employee if you are an agency worker, a casual worker, or on a zero-hours contract.

Statutory Redundancy Pay

You will normally be entitled to statutory redundancy pay if you are an employee and you have been working for your current employer for 2 years or more.

You get:

Yes: Half a week's pay for each full year you were under 22
Yes: One week's pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41
Yes: One and a half week's pay for each full year you were 41 or older
Yes: Length of service is capped at 20 years

A week's pay is capped at £751 (2026/27), making the maximum payout £22,530. In Northern Ireland, a week's pay for statutory redundancy pay is capped at £783 (2026/27), giving a maximum statutory redundancy payment of £23,490.

Your weekly pay is the average you earned per week over the 12 weeks before the day you got your redundancy notice. Weekly pay should also include guaranteed overtime agreed in your contract and any contractual bonuses or commission you are entitled to. If you are on family-related leave when you are made redundant, such as maternity leave, your redundancy pay is based on your normal contractual weekly pay before tax. It is not based on the pay you have been getting whilst on that leave.

You are not entitled to statutory redundancy pay if:

No: Your employer offers to keep you on
No: Your employer offers you suitable alternative work which you refuse without good reason
No: You were dismissed for misconduct, which does not count as redundancy
No: You are a former registered dock worker or a share fisherman
No: You are a crown servant, or a member of the armed forces or police services
No: You are an apprentice who is not an employee at the end of your training
No: You are a domestic servant who is a member of the employer's immediate family

Your employer might top up the statutory minimum amount, which is called enhanced or contractual redundancy pay. Your employer must tell you in writing how your redundancy pay has been worked out. Statutory redundancy pay, and most other genuine termination payments, are not taxable up to £30,000. You have 6 months from the date your job ends to apply for statutory redundancy pay.

If you do not get your redundancy pay, write to your employer as soon as you can, tell them what you are entitled to and include copies of any evidence, and ask your employer to make the redundancy payment and specify a date for this. If you still do not get paid, you can make a claim to an employment tribunal. If your employer is insolvent, you can apply for redundancy pay from the government's Redundancy Payments Service.

Notice entitlements

Statutory minimum notice is at least 1 week after 1 month to 2 years of service, then 1 week for each year of service from 2 to 12 years, up to a maximum of 12 weeks after 12 or more years. Your employer may give you more than the statutory minimum, but they cannot give you less.

As well as statutory redundancy pay, your employer should either pay you through your notice period or pay you in lieu of notice depending on your circumstances. Your notice pay is based on the average you earned per week over the 12 weeks before your notice period starts. Your employment can be ended without notice if payment in lieu of notice is included in your contract, and your employer will pay you instead of giving you a notice period. Your employer may still offer you payment in lieu of notice, even if your contract does not mention it.

Once your employer has given you notice of redundancy, including the date your employment will end, they cannot withdraw it unless you agree. To leave early and still get your redundancy pay, you need to give counter-notice in writing during the obligatory period, which is the period equal to your normal notice period, counting back from your dismissal date. If you have been continuously employed for 2 years by the date your notice period ends, you are allowed a reasonable amount of time off to look for another job or arrange training. The most your employer has to pay you is 40% of one week's pay.

Consultation rights

You are entitled to a consultation with your employer if you are being made redundant. This involves speaking to them about why you are being made redundant and any alternatives to redundancy. If your employer is making up to 19 redundancies, there are no rules about how they should carry out the consultation. If they are making 20 or more redundancies at the same time, the collective redundancy rules apply.

Type	What the guidance says
Individual consultation	If your employer is proposing fewer than 20 redundancies, they should inform and consult you individually. There are no rules in legislation about how long individual consultation lasts. Your employer should hold a meeting with you in private at least once. You can ask your employer if you can bring someone with you to your meeting, though they might not agree. Your employer should hold a genuine and meaningful consultation with you. This means they must listen to your ideas and try to come to an agreement with you. They do not have to agree to any ideas you suggest, but they should seriously consider them.
Collective consultation	Collective consultation rules apply where an employer proposes 20 or more redundancies within any 90-day period at one establishment: a minimum consultation period of 30 days for 20 to 99 proposed redundancies, and 45 days for 100 or more. Your employer must also consult recognised trade union representatives, or employee representatives if there is no recognised trade union. If there are no employee representatives in place, your employer must arrange to elect them. An employer must notify the Redundancy Payments Service before a collective consultation starts, by submitting form HR1 online.

Type

What the guidance says

Individual consultation

If your employer is proposing fewer than 20 redundancies, they should inform and consult you individually. There are no rules in legislation about how long individual consultation lasts. Your employer should hold a meeting with you in private at least once. You can ask your employer if you can bring someone with you to your meeting, though they might not agree. Your employer should hold a genuine and meaningful consultation with you. This means they must listen to your ideas and try to come to an agreement with you. They do not have to agree to any ideas you suggest, but they should seriously consider them.

Collective consultation

Collective consultation rules apply where an employer proposes 20 or more redundancies within any 90-day period at one establishment: a minimum consultation period of 30 days for 20 to 99 proposed redundancies, and 45 days for 100 or more. Your employer must also consult recognised trade union representatives, or employee representatives if there is no recognised trade union. If there are no employee representatives in place, your employer must arrange to elect them. An employer must notify the Redundancy Payments Service before a collective consultation starts, by submitting form HR1 online.

In a collective consultation, your employer must tell you in writing why they need to make redundancies, which jobs are at risk of redundancy, the total number of employees at risk, how they propose to select employees and carry out redundancies, how they will calculate redundancy pay, and details of any agency workers they are using. Your employer does not need to include you in collective consultation if you are employed under a fixed-term contract, except if they are ending your contract early because of redundancy.

You can make a claim to an employment tribunal if your employer does not consult properly, for example if they start late or do not consult at all. Your employer could be ordered to pay a protective award as compensation. From 6 April 2026, this can be up to 180 days' pay for each affected employee. Before 6 April 2026, the maximum protective award was 90 days' pay. Employees do not need 2 years' service to be entitled to a protective award.

Fair selection, challenging how you were chosen

Your employer should use a fair and objective way of selecting you for redundancy. Commonly used methods are last in, first out, asking for volunteers, disciplinary records, and staff appraisal markings, skills, qualifications and experience. Your employer can make you redundant without having to follow a selection process if your job no longer exists, for example if they are closing down a whole operation or you are the only employee in your part of the organisation. If your employer uses last in, first out, make sure it is not discrimination, for example if it means only young people are made redundant.

Your employer might group together similar roles in a selection pool and use agreed criteria to choose who to make redundant. Criteria should be as objective and measurable as possible, based on facts that can be measured and not affected by personal opinions. Examples include standard of work or performance, skills, qualifications or expertise, attendance record, and disciplinary record. An attendance record must be accurate and must not include absences related to disability, pregnancy or maternity.

You cannot be selected for redundancy because of:

No: Sex, gender reassignment, marital status, sexual orientation, race, disability, religion or belief, or age
No: Your membership or non-membership of a trade union
No: Health and safety activities
No: Your working pattern, for example part-time or fixed-term employees
No: Maternity leave, birth or pregnancy
No: Paternity leave, parental or dependants leave
No: Exercising your statutory rights
No: Whistleblowing, for example making disclosures about your employer's wrongdoing
No: Taking part in lawful industrial action lasting 12 weeks or less
No: Doing jury service, or being the trustee of a company pension scheme

If you are selected for one of these reasons, your redundancy would be classed as an unfair dismissal. Your employer must also not use criteria that indirectly discriminate against you. For example, using flexible working as one of the criteria could be sex discrimination. You can appeal if you feel that you have been unfairly selected. Write to your employer explaining the reasons. You may be able to make a claim to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.

Can you be made redundant on maternity leave?

Regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 applies where it is not practicable by reason of redundancy for an employer to continue to employ an employee under her existing contract during the protected period of pregnancy, the statutory maternity leave period or the additional protected period. Where there is a suitable available vacancy, the employee is entitled to be offered alternative employment before the end of her employment under her existing contract.

Your employer must first offer any suitable alternative jobs to employees who are:

Yes: Pregnant
Yes: On or returning from maternity leave
Yes: On or returning from adoption leave
Yes: On Shared Parental Leave

Employees returning from maternity leave, adoption leave or at least 6 weeks Shared Parental Leave have the right to alternative job offers for 18 months from the date their child was born or adopted.

It is against discrimination law (Equality Act 2010) to select anyone because of pregnancy and maternity. It is also against other areas of employment law to select anyone because of maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave, ordinary parental leave, shared parental leave, parental bereavement leave, time off for dependants and carer's leave. The 2 year qualifying period for unfair dismissal does not apply where section 99 applies or where section 105 applies.

If you are on family-related leave when you are made redundant, your redundancy pay is based on your normal contractual weekly pay before tax. It is not based on the pay you have been getting whilst on that leave.

Can you be made redundant while off sick?

Where an attendance record is used as a selection criterion, it must be accurate and must not include absences related to disability, pregnancy or maternity. Selection criteria should be as objective and measurable as possible, based on facts that can be measured and not affected by personal opinions.

You are entitled to a consultation with your employer if you are being made redundant. It is against discrimination law (Equality Act 2010) to select anyone because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

You cannot be selected for redundancy because of disability, and if you are, your redundancy would be classed as an unfair dismissal. The Acas helpline number is 0300 123 1100, open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Redundancy during pregnancy

An employer must first offer any suitable alternative jobs to employees who are pregnant.

Under regulation 10, the protected period of pregnancy begins when the employer is informed of the pregnancy. It ends, if the employee has the right to statutory maternity leave, on the day the statutory maternity leave period commences. The additional protected period begins the day after the last day of the statutory maternity leave period, and ends immediately before the day after a period of 18 months beginning with the first day of the expected week of childbirth, or with the day childbirth occurred if the employer has been notified of that day.

You cannot be selected for redundancy because of maternity leave, birth or pregnancy, and if you are, your redundancy would be classed as an unfair dismissal. The 2 year qualifying period for unfair dismissal does not apply where section 99 applies or where section 105 applies.

Suitable alternative roles, what this means in practice

Whether a job is suitable depends on how similar the work is to your current job, the terms of the job being offered, your skills, abilities and circumstances in relation to the job, and the pay (including benefits), status, hours and location. Your redundancy could be an unfair dismissal if your employer has suitable alternative employment and they do not offer it to you.

If there is a suitable alternative vacancy, your employer must offer it to you or someone else who is being made redundant. You should not have to apply for the role. Your employer should offer the alternative role before your current role ends. The alternative role must start within 4 weeks of your current role ending. If not, you will still qualify as redundant and should get redundancy pay. If more than one employee is interested in the same vacancy, your employer must first offer the available role to any employees who are pregnant or taking maternity, shared parental or adoption leave, and follow a fair process for all other employees.

You have the right to a 4-week trial period for any alternative employment you are offered. Any extension must be agreed in writing before the trial period starts. Tell your employer during the trial period if you decide the new job is not suitable, and this will not affect your right to statutory redundancy pay. You will lose your right to claim statutory redundancy pay if you do not give notice within the 4-week trial period.

If you think the job is not suitable, you need to tell your employer in writing. If you do not, you could lose your right to redundancy pay. You need to have a good reason why it is not suitable, for example the job is on lower pay, health issues stop you from doing the job, or it would cause disruption to your family life. If your contract has a mobility clause, turning down a job because of its location could risk your right to redundancy pay.

If you think your redundancy is unfair

Appeal in writing

You should talk to your employer first and check if they have an appeals process you can follow. Even if there is no appeals process, you can still write to your employer with the reasons you think the redundancy is unfair. You should appeal in writing within a reasonable timescale of being told you will be made redundant. For example, 5 days could be reasonable. You can ask your employer if a senior manager who was not involved in the redundancy selection process can handle the appeal.

Get advice

The Acas helpline number is 0300 123 1100, open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Tell Acas

Before you make a claim to an employment tribunal, you must tell Acas. Early conciliation is voluntary. When you notify Acas, your time limit will be paused until early conciliation ends, but this only applies if you notify Acas within your employment tribunal time limit.

Make a tribunal claim

You might be able to make a claim to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal if you feel you were unfairly selected, your employer did not follow a fair process, your employer did not hold genuine and meaningful consultation before making redundancies, your employer failed to consider alternatives to redundancy, or there was a suitable alternative role available that your employer failed to offer you.

If your problem happened on or after 1 October 2026, you have 6 months minus 1 day for most claims. If it happened before 1 October 2026, you have 3 months minus 1 day for most claims. For unfair dismissal, in most cases the time limit starts from either the last day of your notice period, or the date you were dismissed if your employer did not give you notice. If your time limit has passed, you can still make a claim to an employment tribunal, but it is up to the judge to decide whether they will accept it, and in most cases time limits are strictly enforced.

Where to go next

Frequently asked questions

How much statutory redundancy pay am I entitled to?

You get half a week's pay for each full year you were under 22, one week's pay for each full year you were 22 or older but under 41, and one and a half week's pay for each full year you were 41 or older. Length of service is capped at 20 years. A week's pay is capped at £751 (2026/27), making the maximum payout £22,530.

How long do I have to claim statutory redundancy pay?

You have 6 months from the date your job ends to apply for statutory redundancy pay.

How much notice must my employer give before making me redundant?

What is a protective award for redundancy?

If your employer does not consult trade union representatives, a claim could be made to an employment tribunal by employee representatives or affected employees, and your employer could be ordered to pay a protective award as compensation. From 6 April 2026, this can be up to 180 days' pay for each affected employee. Employees do not need 2 years' service to be entitled to a protective award.

Can I claim unfair dismissal if I was made redundant?

Under section 108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, you need to have been continuously employed for a period of not less than two years to claim unfair dismissal, but that does not apply where section 99 applies or where section 105 applies. From 1 January 2027, employees will have the right to claim unfair dismissal after 6 months of being in a job, instead of 2 years. You might be able to make a claim to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal if you feel you were unfairly selected, your employer did not follow a fair process, your employer did not hold genuine and meaningful consultation before making redundancies, your employer failed to consider alternatives to redundancy, or there was a suitable alternative role available that your employer failed to offer you.

What happens to my redundancy pay if the company goes insolvent?

If your employer is insolvent, you can apply for redundancy pay from the government's Redundancy Payments Service.

Can I be made redundant while on maternity leave?

Is my redundancy pay calculated on maternity pay or my normal salary?

Can I be made redundant while on sick leave?

Where an attendance record is used as a selection criterion, it must be accurate and must not include absences related to disability, pregnancy or maternity. You cannot be selected for redundancy because of disability, and if you are, your redundancy would be classed as an unfair dismissal.

Do I have to accept the alternative role my employer offers me?

If you think the job is not suitable, you need to tell your employer in writing. If you do not, you could lose your right to redundancy pay. You need to have a good reason why it is not suitable. You have the right to a 4-week trial period for any alternative employment you are offered. You are not entitled to statutory redundancy pay if your employer offers you suitable alternative work which you refuse without good reason.

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Know Your Rights UK. "Redundancy Rights UK: Statutory Pay, Notice & Consultation." Know Your Rights UK, https://www.knowyourrightsuk.com/employment/redundancy