How statutory redundancy pay works in 2026/27
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Statutory redundancy pay is the legal minimum your employer must pay when your job is made redundant. Your contract or a company scheme may give you more. It cannot give you less.
Who qualifies
You normally qualify if you are an employee and have worked for your current employer for 2 years or more. Self-employed people, and workers who are not employees, do not qualify. You can lose the right if your employer offers you suitable alternative work and you turn it down without good reason. Members of the armed forces, police officers and crown servants are not covered, and being dismissed for misconduct does not count as redundancy.
How the age bands work
You get a number of weeks' pay for each full year you worked for your employer:
- 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
- one and a half weeks' pay for each full year you were 41 or older
Only full years count, and only the most recent 20. A year counts at the higher rate only if you were that age for the whole of it. The year in which you turned 41 counts as one week, not one and a half.
The weekly pay cap
Your weekly pay is the average you earned over the 12 weeks before you were given notice. For redundancies on or after 6 April 2026 it is capped at £751 a week in England, Scotland and Wales, and £783 in Northern Ireland. If you earn more, the cap is used. The most anyone can get is £22,530, or £23,490 in Northern Ireland.
Tax, notice pay and holiday pay
The first £30,000 of redundancy pay is usually tax-free. That limit covers statutory redundancy pay and any extra redundancy payment from your employer added together.
Notice pay, holiday pay and unpaid wages are separate from redundancy pay. You are owed them on top, and they are taxed like normal earnings, with National Insurance. That includes payment in lieu of notice. The minimum notice is one week if you have worked there between one month and 2 years, one week for each year between 2 and 12 years, and 12 weeks after 12 years or more.
Worked examples
These use the cap for England, Scotland and Wales. Results are rounded down to the whole pound, as on the official calculator.
Age 30, 5 years' service, £500 a week
All five years fall in the 22 to 40 band, so you get 5 weeks' pay. That is £2,500.
Age 45, 10 years' service, £600 a week
The four years that started at 41 or older count as one and a half weeks each, which is 6 weeks. The other six years count as one week each. That makes 12 weeks' pay, or £7,200.
Age 58, 25 years' service, £900 a week
Only the last 20 years count. Seventeen of them started at 41 or older and three did not, which gives 28.5 weeks. Pay is capped at £751 a week, so the payment is £21,403.
Common questions
Do I pay tax on redundancy pay?
Not on the first £30,000. You pay income tax on anything above that. Notice pay and holiday pay paid at the same time are taxed in full.
How long do I have to claim?
You have 6 months from the date your job ends to apply for statutory redundancy pay.
What if my employer cannot pay?
If your employer is insolvent, you can apply to the government's Insolvency Service for the redundancy pay you are owed.
Is redundancy pay different in Northern Ireland?
The rules are the same, but the weekly pay cap is £783 and not £751. Choose Northern Ireland in the calculator to use it.
Where these figures come from
See gov.uk for your rights in redundancy, the official redundancy pay calculator and tax on termination payments. Northern Ireland figures are from nidirect.